


Twin Faces of the Sky

by jseah



Category: Original Work
Genre: Fantasy, Gen, Intralis Magic System
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-25
Updated: 2013-07-09
Packaged: 2017-12-16 03:49:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 26,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/857430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jseah/pseuds/jseah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world destroyed by war, the remaining survivors struggle to live on their floating islands in the sky, away from the terrible Grey Mist covering the ground.  Their magic technology poorly understood, their amplified magic barely controlled, much has been lost from the past.  The magically amplified Araels are subject to discrimination and prejudice in this time of high racial tension.  </p><p>This is the story of Ethiel and her journey to bring hope, peace and tolerance back to a declining society.</p><p>Mirrored on Fictionpress</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story will follow Esther around for 4-5 chapters in the "main" storyline before shifting to an interlude of a few chapters of other relevant characters and events. Then I'll go back and repeat. 
> 
> The interludes are more focused on setting building but also contain plot relevant information. 
> 
> The Prologue, which is technically until Chapter 5, will be followed by an Esther segment.

**In the Age of the Gods,**

Gods came down  
and made the world

Sea and land,  
plant, beast and men

Men were new  
the child of gods

They cried out,  
yearning for life

**In the Age of the Land,**

Men lived free,  
along the ground

Plants grew tall  
and beasts grew strong

Men were weak  
and were in fear

They cried out,  
yearning for light

**In the Age of the Men,**

Men grew tall,  
walked over all

His works rose  
and beasts cowered

Men were strong  
and marched to war

They cried out,  
yearning for death

**In this Age of the Sky,**

Men fly high,  
above the clouds

Our works soar  
and beasts are gone

Are we weak  
or are we strong?

Do we cry?

\- A traditional poem by Unknown Bard; circa 500 years ago

* * *

 

**700 years ago**

"Signatures approaching from Sector 4! Count 261!"

"Perimeter lines taking fire!"

"Data intrusion on CnC network! Engaging information defense protocols!"

Mina carefully crafted the last piece of magic and the insanely complex assembly clicked into place. The shell around a new weapon. Hopefully the last weapon.

"It's ready," she said, almost quietly.

Her sister, Miyo, touched her lightly on the arm, as if trying to comfort her, but Mina brushed it off. The images of the small nameless grave and of her husband jumping off the top of the Central Tower were too fresh to ignore.

Even so, she gulped as the custom built magical bullet of the huge magical cannon rotated into position, amid multiple confirmations. Their enemies were vicious, but it wasn't like Mina hadn't been. At least after she miscarried from the last attack. Making weapons for the final struggle of Lys's failing defences, struggling to find a more efficient method to kill, was not like her. And this weapon would be the deadliest of all.

"Ready to fire. "

"Magical consumption stable, Grey Mist is ready to deploy. "

Mina held her breath for a moment, this was the weapon that would end the war once and for all, kill every single last one of their enemies. A self-replicating weapon, one single shot was enough. It would spread and kill everyone else in the world too, but it seemed like the whole world was against them now anyway. Behind her, another magical explosion highlighted a breach in their defensive lines.

"Fire it. "

And the world ended.

* * *

**400 years ago**

Tezmon hurried down the hallway, wood planks echoing his footsteps, as the wailing siren blared its warning. "Aphenasia incident in ward 4B!"

"Again?" he panted out as he came to a halt outside the magically shielded ward.

"Yes, this drug is also unsatisfactory," his supervisor said, writing it elegantly into the stack of notepaper with a pen.

Tezmon looked past the Crystal walls of the ward holding the third generation magic amplified human. The young boy must not be much more than ten years old. Uncontrolled bursts of magic splashed against the magical shields surrounding him.

"Do you think it is even possible to control these outbursts?"

"Yes. "

Tezmon eyed his supervisor again, unsure where the man got his confidence from.

"Now, my good student, tell me again why we need stable Araels?"

He sighed internally, his supervisor just loved asking spot questions. Tezmon had lost count of the number of things he had to memorize over the past year just to humour the man.

"Araels, magically amplified human beings, are an alternative to our magical technology. The human population is growing too small to sustain our previous levels of sophistication, so Araels, which can learn to perform many of the same functions, make perfect replacements. Araels are controlled by restricting their magical usages to certain trigger conditions with certain family themes, but this can be overcome by strong emotion.

Furthermore, while Araels are magically and biologically similar to human beings, their lifeforce continuously loses magic; they are essentially no more than slightly inefficient, very flexible magical devices. It is convenient that they feel increasing pain and exhaustion as their approach their limit beyond which they become unstable.

Araels will grow unstable if strong emotion causes them to drain their lifeforce by more than they can survive, which results in an uncontrolled explosion of magic, something that normal trigger conditions cannot do. We require a stable Arael because unstable Araels are just like magical devices that can explode violently without warning. "

"Perfect, Tezmon! Just like in a lecture. Now tell me why this boy is so special?"

"Thank you, sir. Unlike normal Aphenasia where Araels kill themselves, he doesn't die. When undergoing strong emotion, the boy is also highly susceptible to Aphenasia even though it normally only occurs at critically low magic levels and he certainly isn't low. "

"Good man! I foresee a fine future as a lecturer or teacher for you!"

Tezmon sighed again, he had no intention of becoming a teacher of any sort.

* * *

**320 years ago**

"Your name is Tir and you are an Arael. You belong to Weinbar. "

That was the first thing she had been told once she could understand. Waking up slowly in the glassy tank, learning how to talk, learning her place in life. Before she could even speak well, Tir had started to learn magic.

Era, a girl a few years older than Tir, held out a tuning fork and struck it. A small block of crystallized Earth magic grew on the table and the girl nodded at Tir. Tir recited the poem as she was told to memorize and soon enough, a slightly smaller block of Earth was on her side of the table.

She grinned at Mauricio, the guard who was supposed to keep her safe and followed her everywhere. This was the first time she was actually trying out a spell without direct supervision from her Arael teachers. They wanted to see if Tir could learn by herself. Since this clearly showed that she could learn just by herself now, she wouldn't need to be forced to learn from the scary teachers anymore.

"Look here!" Era said, striking a different tone, "I can do this too!"

A ball of red hovered in front of her, shedding heat like a candle.

A tune immediately leapt to mind and Tir discarded the memorized keys she had learnt and reserved for new spells. A slightly playful and nonsensical song seemed to fit the ball of Fire perfectly, wavering and dancing.

Era grinned back as Tir made her own ball of flame, she struck the metal fork again and her fireball grew bigger. Tir shifted her song in response and poured out her magic, if Era wanted to compete, then...

There was a noise that flattened everything else and Tir felt a huge pressure on her body throw her across the room. A dull pain was building all down the front of her body and she dimly remembered whimpering uncontrollably. Mauricio bending over her with a needle dripping some clear liquid was the last she remembered.

The next week, after she had recovered from the burns, Tir was told that a new Arael would be teaching her and that she would not see Era again. That sing-song tune was never mentioned and she did not use it anymore.


	2. Childhood

_Weinbar refers to many things.  It may refer to the island Weinbar, or the Weinbar Corporation which controls such a large portion of the available land.  But it is also used to refer to the Weinbar family, which has inherited their controlling stake in Weinbar Corporation at its eminent position in society for over 300 years._

_The Weinbar family is active in many areas of social life and to a large extent, it is a household name that many people envy.  A pure human line, the Weinbar pride themselves on not having Araels and they represent the interests of humans in this dangerous and hard world._

_\-- Weinbar Reports_

* * *

**7 Years Ago**

Esther turned over the large stone, examining the wet soil underneath. The cluster of plants at the edge of the core Weinbar island was more luxurious than she had ever seen. She had been aiming for this place ever since she saw that green patch, it was the greatest discovery in her explorations so far! Nearly ten meters of soil used to grow nothing but bushes and grass! Lloyd would totally eat his heart out.

Two maids watched over her as she put the stone back and ran over to the railing at the edge. The soil ended a foot from the edge, bordered with a raised concrete perimeter to keep water in. The drop down from Weinbar was immense, she could see clear down to the rolling dirty grey clouds. Esther squealed a little at the vertigo the incredible distance created. At the bottom of the world was the Grey Mist, that much anyone knew, but this was the first time she was seeing it. It did indeed look like grey rain clouds, as she had read, just down below instead of above.

She wondered if it rained upwards. Oh, and there were all the Lands too! Even the nearest one, Iris, looked small enough to fit into her palm this far away, when it was supposed to be even bigger than Weinbar.

Esther stared out the railing for a few minutes before running back to the bushes to take a closer look. The spiralled red flowers weren't something she had seen before and they did smell sort of nice. The voices of the two maids drifted over as the wind shifted.

"What a pitiful child. "

"I wonder what her mother was thinking. Even if she had a lover, she should have known how the kid would be treated. "

The head butler coughed lightly and the two maids jumped to attention. The severe man nodded at the young girl playing by herself to indicate that they should be cautious. The lady of the house would not like it if she found out they were gossiping about her daughter. The two maids scurried off to find something else to do.

Outside, Esther chased a butterfly across the lawn, her pointed ears twitching with excitement. She carefully stayed far enough away from the servants to avoid hearing them but the butler just stood there watching her silently.

"Ehtiel!"

Esther looked back when her real name was called, only very few people used an Arael's official name, awkward as they were. The voice was her father's.

"Yes, father?" she bowed respectfully, wondering if she was going to get into trouble for finding the place.

"Come here, Ehtiel. You're not supposed to be here. "

She nodded, walking back to the corridors, seeing the butler's carefully neutral expression. Nope, she probably wasn't in trouble.

"What is this place?" she asked hopefully.

"It is a garden," the butler said, taking his cue from the Weinbar president.

"What's a garden?" Esther shot back.

"Please find her a book from the Library. " The butler bowed, more deeply than Esther did, everyone bowed to father. Father was the most powerful man in the world after all. "You did not disturb anything?"

Esther shook her head and looked at the butler for confirmation. He nodded.

"Good. Lloyd is looking for you, please see him. "

"Okay," Esther replied cheerfully and waited until her father was gone before turning to the butler, "can you find me the book first?"

* * *

Esther grinned at Lloyd and put the silvery coin on the floor in between them. "Look what I found!" she said, pointing at the coin.

Her younger brother picked up the coin and examined it. He shrugged, not finding anything strange.

Esther's grin broadened and she took the coin back. Holding it in her palm, she concentrated on the coin, trying to find that place in her mind again. Lloyd leaned forward onto his knees, clearly something amazing was about to happen.

Ever since she read about the Iris family and found out what her pointed ears meant, she had been trying all sorts of mediation tricks. None of the meditation triggers that the past Iris family members had used worked for her magic though.

But now... she concentrated, focusing completely on the coin. A slight flicker of light flashed above it, wavered weakly and disappeared.

She jerked out of her focus as Lloyd gasped in surprise. Her brother took the coin and looked at it again with new eyes.

"I found my trigger!" she laughed, "I just have to concentrate on something silvery. "

"Wow. Will you be flying around then? Like in the stories?" Lloyd's eyes were shining.

"I don't think I can do that yet. But I promise, I'll take you flying one day!" Esther held up the coin, "When I can fly!"

Lloyd opened his mouth and was interrupted by the door opening.

The maid gasped, "Lloyd! It's past ten, what are you doing staying up so late! You have studies tomorrow morning!"

Lloyd muttered a resentful apology and crawled back into the bed. Esther took the opportunity to stealthily pocket the coin. Somehow, it felt wrong to let other people know that she could use magic.

"Esther, your father would appreciate it if you did not constantly distract him," the maid turned back to her, "it doesn't matter when you sleep but try not to keep him up too late. "

Esther nodded glumly and followed the maid out of the room after she blew out the candle.

* * *

Lloyd was already at his studies when Esther got up, as usual. She bounced out of bed, wondering if she could find a place she was reasonably sure she wouldn't be found practicing magic.

After fixing her hair, Esther left her room to head to the kitchens to find something to eat. The maids woke her brother for breakfast but Esther was allowed to do whatever she wanted. She had long since stopped coming to the family breakfast.

The path to the kitchens went past the private airship docks and Esther saw the characteristic red-gold personal carrier. Her mother had returned from her business trip! Esther grabbed a few slices of bread, wondering if she would be able to find her mother when she was no doubt busy with-

"Miss Ehtiel?" the cook approached her. Esther nodded her thanks at the cook for the bread but that wasn't what he wanted. "Your mother asked me to tell you to see her as soon as you have eaten. She will be in her room. "

Esther grinned and muttered a quick thank you before hurrying out of the kitchen to her mother's room.

"Come in. "

Esther pushed open the door after knocking. Her mother pulled up some cushions for them to sit on and gestured for her to sit down. Esther hesitated, trying to think of anything that might have gotten her in trouble. Only her mother would ever scold her for misbehaving.

"Ah, I'm sorry about the garden? I didn't really mean to break the rose," she ventured hesitantly.

"It's ok, you're not in trouble," her mother said, smiling, "I just want to talk about something important. Do you want a drink?"

Esther nodded and her mother poured some tea. There were even biscuits to go with it, the proper buttery delicious sort that even Esther rarely encountered.

"Let me get to the point," she said eventually, "Are coins your magical trigger?"

Esther blinked for a moment in shock, she had been found out so quickly? "Uh, it's silver actually," she took out the coin she had used to show Lloyd.

Her mother held up a hand, "It's ok, you don't have to show me. We heard about it from the maid who overheard you last night, your father is not happy. "

"He is never happy," Esther pouted, "At least not with the things I do. "

"I know," her mother said, "but you understand why. "

"I am not his daughter. " It had been a major shock to her when her mother told her after she had asked why she was the only one with pointy ears. "He could at least acknowledge me instead of pretending I don't exist," she continued.

"Yes," her mother added simply, "but there remains the fact that you found your trigger. You're an Arael. Your father was hoping you wouldn't be able to use magic. "

"I could see that, he doesn't want to be reminded that I am the first Weinbar who can use magic. "

"Maybe you should stop being so dark and let me finish," her mother snapped and continued after Esther apologized, "What matters is that you'll have to learn how to control your magic, at least enough to be safe. Your father is sending you to Iris. "

Esther couldn't help the wonder showing on her face, her bitter mood vanishing. "Do you mean I am actually going to learn magic? And I'm going to go on an airship?"

"Of course. We can't teach you here and Iris is almost all Arael. Besides, you are one of them, the Iris bloodline all have pointed ears. "

"That-" Esther paused, trying to find the words, "that's the best thing ever!"

"Don't be surprised if your father thinks of it as getting rid of you," her mother pointed out, "at least for a while. "

"I'll think of it as getting rid of him," Esther shot back, but even the mention of her father could not dampen the growing bubble of joy.

"Please don't say that," her mother said sadly, "I won't be seeing you for some time. "

Oh, right. Esther paused in her happiness. She hadn't been thinking about downsides.

"You don't have a choice though," her mother continued, "so it's good you're so happy about it. "

"I- I'm sorry," was all she could think of saying. Her mother patted her shoulder gently and embraced her, "don't be. If you're happy, I'm happy for you too. "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is no missing word in "A ball of red". Magical Fire is pure red of a single colour.


	3. Fate

"Sahsartoriel Araelas Iris," the man intoned gravely as she approached him nervously. The great hall at the center of the Iris family palace built around the Silver Shield itself was the largest manmade structure still existing. It seemed impossibly huge in comparison to her eight year old self. In the center of the room, the man sat on a wooden chair in front of a closed crate, surrounded with nothing but bare polished stone.

The lonely footsteps died away without echoes as she stopped close to him, as she had been instructed. This was her Test. Of what, her mother had not said, but it Important in the same sense that the Silver Shield was. Sasa, as she thought of herself, shivered nervously in her light clothing even though the air was pleasantly mild.

The man's ears were almost as pointy as her own, sticking out from his head nearly an inch. She knew that meant he was also an Iris family Arael, although not one she recognized. A branch family then, of which she had so many relatives that she couldn't possibly remember them all. But what it meant was that he could use magic nearly as much as she could and far far more than any human.

"Sahsartoriel Araelas Iris," he repeated, "you have come for your Test. You will become part of the Core Iris family who protect this world by maintaining the Silver Shield. Are you ready?"

Sasa nodded mutely, not trusting her mouth.

"Then show me. "

Sasa closed her eyes and breathed slowly as she was taught. From the very moment she could use magic when she was five, she had had to practice for countless hours each day to trigger her magic through the meditation characteristic of the Iris family. Learning the Silver Shield Spell felt impossible but years of practice and teaching directly from her mother had paid off.

The magic came naturally, and according to countless hours of drill, the magic twisted and danced. The spell spiraled, wove and shifted all around them, magic moving in a complex dance that dizzied the mind. Neither Sasa nor the unnamed relative were fazed by it however, the Spell was just something to be expected.

She first felt something wrong when one of the patterns she had drilled to perfection suddenly veer out of sync with the rest. The construct began to collapse as she tried to save it but there was no real hope. The Spell had to be done perfectly from the start and it was far too complex, to repair one that was imploding was impossible for anyone, much less an eight year old, no matter how talented.

The man glared at her disapprovingly as the practice construct imploded silently with a small pop of moving air. Sasa flinched and mumbled an apology but he merely turned around and opened the crate.

"You have failed," he said tonelessly, "and there is a price for failure. "

She froze as he took out the iron cage, the chirps were more than familiar. The little songbird her mother had given her to take care of three years ago hopped around curiously. Eve chirped its annoyance at being shut into a dark unfamiliar box.

The man held her trembling gaze for a moment and the bird suddenly smashed against the bars, the blast of magic crippling its wing. Sasa could only manage to choke out a whimper, she had not expected this. Why was there punishment? And... why Eve? The bird stirred miserably and squeaked as its crippled wing suddenly twisted into a cruel shape, blood and bone exploding across the cage.

The cage itself cracked and bent as invisible hammer blows hit it, the image wavering as her tears obscured her vision. "Stop it!" Sasa finally managed to scream at the man but he continued to mutilate the body. The lump of feathers shivered again under the magical assault and Sasa tried to step forward only to run into an invisible wall of magic as the man put down the battered cage and simply looked at her with glassy unfeeling eyes.

She tried to concentrate her magic but the image of the bird kept intruding, with all her tears and crying there was no way she could summon any meditative state. Sasa hit the wall again with her fist and got only a bruised knuckle for it. Wasn't there anything she could do? She cried and yelled at the man but it was like kicking a wall. His eyes did not even move.

"Again," the man said, ignoring her crying. How was she going to use magic like this? And she was not going to use it for him! Sasa glared at the twisted metal on the ground and suddenly it felt like a fog lifted. She should just go ahead and burn it, and him too. It was all wrong! This was wrong!

The cage flared bright as concentrated liquid Heat exploded into existence, the metal drooping down into a puddle. The man beside it dived to the side and wrapped a shield around himself, a combat spell. Sasa couldn't care less about that and she threw her anger at him, the torrent of magic bursting the dam in her mind. The magic shifted again and slipped out of her control as it hit his shield and suddenly it was all thrown back at her. A massive weight pushed her to the ground and Sasa screamed in shock and pain as the magic seemed to crush her bones.

Then it was gone and the man picked himself off the ground nonchalantly, walking back to stand beside the slowly cooling puddle of metal where the cage was. "You will do it again," he repeated, still ignoring her sniffles.

Sasa groaned and cried, refusing to get off the ground to please him. Her joints still ached from the terrible pressure but she wasn't about to give up. Not after that. One burst of magic and the surface of the stone floor cracked, then shattered. The man adopted his combat stance but instead of falling into his trap again, Sasa threw the shards of stone flooring at him, as hard as she could.

The shards turned aside in front of the man, arcing around and slashing backwards at her. Sasa screamed for real as one cut her leg and another smashed into her arm, thrown up over her face. She collapsed back down onto the shattered floor, feeling the blood flow down to her wrist from the stone piece embedded in her left arm, dimly aware that the shards had been aimed to miss her narrowly. The pain cut through her anger, she could only whimper and cry.

There was a shudder through the floor right before the roar of an explosion in the distance made itself heard. Sasa could dimly make out voices chattering over her.

"The Silver Shield! Something made it go haywire!"

The man's voice cursed, "This girl's spell must have interfered somehow. "

"How's that even possible? I thought they get taught a wrong version that doesn't do anything?"

"Never mind that, tell me what happened?"

Sasa gritted her teeth and coughed through the pain. So she was going to fail anyway? It was all an act? Then why... this? She groaned and shifted a little, the pain seemed dim against the sudden choking bitterness. What was this all for?

"The Shield. The feedback killed her. It isn't running anymore. "

The man paused for a while, "Anaur?" There was a pause and he continued, shock in his voice, "But there's no one left who can run the Shield! If her mother is dead, we're all dead too. "

Sasa opened her eyes and saw the men looking down at her. The new unfamiliar man was wearing the livery of the Iris family, so he was just a servant. His lack of their family's characteristic pointed ears made that abundantly clear.

The servant glared down at her, "What the hell did you do? You just killed your mother! Who's going to run the Silver Shield now!"

Sasa squeezed her eyes shut again. That was impossible, the spell couldn't have done anything, especially if it was fake. That was just... impossible.

There was a silence for almost a minute as the Iris man dragged the servant away from her. Apart from the pulsing pain in her arm and leg, Sasa could only stare at the ceiling in shock, feeling nothing at all. In less than five minutes, it seemed like her whole world had come crashing down. Eve didn't even seem all that important now.

The Silver Shield. That thing just shouldn't exist. The metallic chamber her mother had shown her once before, where all the Core Iris family were doomed to spend their lives maintaining that Spell. It wasn't a sacred duty or being a special chosen person or whatever titles people put on the Iris family. The chamber was just a monster that ate them. One that they would have to feed, forever.

"Mama," she whispered, hoping against hope that she could just go back to the sane world. But that wasn't going to happen.

The barrier that seemed to keep her magic away except when she was meditating didn't seem all that hard to go through now. Gathering what remained of her magic, Sasa simply forced it upwards, ignoring the growing pain that meant she was running out. Bad Things happened if you ran too low, that was what she had been taught, but she had found out by herself in books. Araels simply exploded with magic as their life burned out.

That didn't seem so bad now. Perhaps she could even destroy the Shield before she died. Her magic flickered a little as the pain grew. Sasa gritted her teeth as the flow ebbed to a trickle but it didn't work, the pain tearing at her soul was too much. It wasn't fair, she couldn't even face the pain and do it.

"Stop the Test!" a shocking voice boomed across the hall and Sasa dropped her magic in surprise. Mother?!

A sound of running feet brought her mother's face across her view. "It's okay now, it'll be all right," her mother's gentle voice and hands seemed to brush away the pain. Sasa still felt confused but at least it was all okay now.

* * *

Anaur Araelas Iris stood up slowly, still feeling weak. Her second and only daughter lay sleeping amid the rubble, the peaceful look on her face contrasting with the hopeless despair only moments earlier. The doctor put away his needle and waved the nurses carrying the stretcher forward.

"Are you sure? The Test wasn't complete," her uncle said, brushing off the flakes of stone from his jacket.

"It's complete enough. She was killing herself if you didn't notice," Anaur shot back, trying to keep the anger out of her voice. It was the fate of all Iris family members after all. "I have only Sasa left, I will not risk her too. "

"But you just broke the script, you know it's our only way to definitely tell if she is a pure-blood Arael. "

"Enough, the Test is sufficiently cruel as it is. If you don't think making my daughter attempt suicide isn't enough to trigger a TA episode if she wasn't pure, I don't care," She looked at her child on the stretcher, remembering what it was like for her own Test. A gust of wind rose as she leaked magic from the emotion stirred by the memory. "I say it is enough and that will be all. "

She turned around and stalked off after the doctor without waiting for his reply. There would be alot of explanations due when Sasa woke up and she wanted to be there.

Not for the first nor the last time, Anaur thought unspeakable things about her fate. All of this for the Silver Shield.


	4. Meeting

Esther climbed awkwardly over the low stone wall, giving herself a little push from her magic. Her year in Iris was more than just controlling her magic, it had driven home that there was more to the world than just her little bubble she was familiar with exploring. To think she had thought she was being daring and adventurous by finding new places in the Weinbar residences! To think she was satisfied with just her discovery of the silver coin trigger, everyone was able to use a little magic! Only Araels could use their full power, but the important point was that her training to use magic with triggers also helped her natural magic which was just as good as a human's without her silvery pieces of metal.

In any case, it was her last few hours before she had to board the airship back to Weinbar and just yesterday, she had caught the glimpse of a green patch from the roof the central Iris building. There were many places in Iris that she was technically not allowed to go and she willfully abused her 'position' as the 'daughter of Weinbar' to go places even other members of Iris couldn't and get herself out of trouble when she got caught.

What was the worst they could do? Ground her? Utterly laughable. Even if they confiscated her triggers, Esther could easily get out of the dormitories without being seen. She must have earned a lifetime's worth of groundings by now.

The patch of green here reminded her of that fateful day that she discovered the meaning of the word 'garden' and a little later, her trigger. She wouldn't let a mere ten meter high wall bar her from this one, even if it had barbed wire on top. Esther scrambled over the wall and dropped down to the other side clumsily, breaking her fall with magic and by rolling onto the soft dirt and grass.

Grass. Another garden then! Esther brushed herself off, looked around and froze. There was another girl in the garden, wearing a long white dress that meant she was one of the more important families. And judging by how pointed her ears were, from a far more pure bloodline than Esther herself, who was around half-human as she learnt when comparing with the other Iris distant relatives.

The unknown girl's ears twitched a little with interest and she approached. "Did you just come over the wall?" the girl asked.

Up close, Esther saw that the girl was maybe a year or so younger than herself. That was good, older girls would rat her out but perhaps Esther could convince this girl not to. She nodded, "Yes. I like exploring and saw this garden. "

"Who are you? No one comes over the wall," the girl laughed a little, "people come in through the door. "

"I'm Ehtiel Courcelle Weinbar, you can call me Esther. What's your name?" If Esther hoped that her last name would impress the young girl, it failed. She didn't even skip a beat.

"Sahsartoriel Araelas Iris. I'm Sasa. "

Esther blinked at that, her attempt to pull rank backfiring, "Araelas Iris?! You're main family?"

"And you're Weinbar!" Sasa mimicked her tone, "Do Weinbars even have Araels?"

"My real father was from Iris," Esther muttered, "but my other father is the Weinbar president and that's where my name comes from. "

"Hm, so we're even?"

Esther looked around at the thick bushes and rocks crammed into the small space, "is this garden somewhere I shouldn't be?"

"Yes, but that's okay. Do you know any games?" Sasa suddenly changed the topic.

Esther thought for a while. If Sasa said it was ok to be here, then who was really going to argue with two daughters of important families? She grinned, "I know one. We should play hide and seek. It's perfect for a garden like this. "

Sasa asked for the rules and as Esther explained, the door to the private garden opened a little. The Weinbar guard behind it watched the two girls play and sighed before closing the door. He looked around and found a handy chair in the corridor to wait in, it would be perfectly plausible for him to not find her for the next few hours. Both girls had little enough time to truly enjoy themselves anyway.

* * *

Esther heard the door to the garden creak open. Lying on the grass with Sasa watching the clouds was relaxing after a series of exhausting hide and seek games but she was probably causing alot of panic now at the airport.

She rolled over and saw a tall man in Weinbar uniform standing in the doorway. The fire rifle strapped behind his shoulder said he was a guard. But the most outstanding portion was his large bushy beard. Esther bit down a snort, it looked completely ridiculous next to the blue and red Weinbar uniform.

"What are you doing here, Esther?" was it just her or did the guard pause for too long before saying that?

"Ah, I was exploring?" she ventured. Not that she was going to get grounded less than an hour before she was due on an airship.

"She was with me," Sasa said as they got up. Esther shot her a grateful look, a friend who wasn't in trouble shielding you was the next best thing for getting out of trouble.

"This is inside the Silver Shield complex. It's highly restricted, Esther. And you are very nearly going to be late for your flight. "

Esther mentally kicked herself. The Silver Shield was the most important place in the world, more than even the Weinbar residence which was often referred to as the center of everything. The Silver Shield kept the whole world safe, run by the main Iris family, was obviously where she would find members of that very small number. All this she had learnt very young from her reading the books in the library and again here on this island, she couldn't believe she didn't think of that when she met Sasa.

Oh right, she had been too busy playing in the place that protected them all from the Grey Mist.

Sasa nodded at her, "That was a very fun! But you shouldn't miss your airship. "

Esther bowed once, suddenly feeling a little cowed. "This way please," the guard lead her down the corridor, and following their fixated stares, added, "and you may not ask about the beard. "

Sasa leaked a small snort and quite abruptly, both of them were doubled up laughing. Esther felt a little bad for him, but it was just too ridiculous when she was reminded about it that way.  
Esther went to the nearby rose bush and looked at Sasa for permission before taking a pale pink flower. She gave it to the guard. "Here, this will make it look a little better," she said, half-laughing.

The guard wordlessly put the flower in his pocket and scowled at the two giggling girls.

* * *

After Esther had left, and Sasa had calmed down a little, she sat down on the grass thinking about the day. She couldn't recall having so much fun before. Something about Esther had just made Sasa want to run around and play, and now that she had left, Sasa was feeling the energy drain away again.

The door to the private Iris garden opened and Jacob came in, his fire rifle unslung and perpetually at the ready. "Did I just see the Weinbar girl leaving here? She's going to get into very serious trouble for that. She's a clear half-Arael and those are never to be allowed here. "

Sasa nodded, "She is leaving today, going back to Weinbar. She's very interesting. "

"Indeed. Quite the troublemaker I hear. Something about being grounded for the next twenty years," Jacob shook his head, sharing her gaze at the cloudy sky, "Not good company. I'd expect a formal complaint will be made by Iris about her entry although since she's Weinbar I doubt anything will come of it. "

"Oh?" Sasa could easily believe that number of years. Esther did not give the impression of respecting rules much. "I think she's fun. I admire her. "

"What?! You can't be serious!" Jacob turned back to her horrified, his signature green cloak flaring.

"She's free to do whatever she wants. But I'm here behind this wall, and I know I can never climb it," Sasa explained simply.

Jacob didn't answer. There wasn't anything he could say to that after all.


	5. Library

Esther crept slowly and silently down the corridor. Late at night it might be, but this was the central library of Weinbar. A place of learning and almost sacred importance.

It was also where the three pages about gardens had come from, and only now, two years later, had Esther worked up the courage to plan an "exploration" down here. The Library wasn't some place you just waltzed in after all, buried in the maze of twisty stone corridors below the surface of Weinbar island. In fact, it was built around the central lift generator for the island itself which was the humongous magical device built in ancient times that kept the island afloat. And except for that generator, the library was easily the most important structure on Weinbar.

The dusty stone corridor looked barely used, with the dust stirring as Esther went past. Her cloth shoes were already black from dust but it kept her silent and she wasn't about to take it off no matter how dirty it got.

The lamp light of the guard was just around the bend and Esther peeked around it. Then she sighed and inched out slowly. The guard of all of humanity's most sacred location, and second most important, was sleeping on the job! She wouldn't have to try that risky invisibility again.

Well, she couldn't blame him. He had to sit here in armour for hours at this rickety wooden table in the rickety wooden chair guarding a rather sturdy wooden door. Practically no one came down here, which boggled the mind when she first learnt about that. Why this was the location of the most sacred knowledge of the past, where all of the past glories resided! She couldn't quite believe that no one wanted to look at it, but even Esther had to admit that after watching the tunnel entrance for days, on and off, and seeing exactly one person come and go apart from the rotating watch.

Maybe they just don't need to come back? She thought to herself, recalling the paper that described a garden. If anyone could copy the bits of the library they needed, there wouldn't be much need to visit again right? Esther had convinced herself of that reasoning but couldn't shake the feeling that she missed something.

She snuck up to the table, careful to make no sound at all. There was no cover in the long stone corridors of any sort where she could hide behind if the guard woke up.

The wooden door moved silently under her careful push. She had made a trip two days ago for the express purpose of oiling its hinges. That had taken the best invisibility spell she had ever casted and the bad lighting when the guard changed shifts for her to get away with it.

Tiptoeing carefully, she slipped into the crack of the door and just as silently closed it behind her.

* * *

The library was most disappointing. The small magical ever-glowing stick she held up illuminated rows and rows of bookshelves, crammed with volumes. But where was the towers and mazes of books? The bookshelves stacked fifty meters high with special moveable ladders and climbing rings to access them? All the wonders and magic she had dreamed about finding here, weren't here.

And, deeper inside her, there was the fearful question. Was this really all of the knowledge of the ancients? This musty library not even the size of Weinbar's meeting hall. Just a row of book racks sitting silently in the darkness.

"What do you seek?" the soft voice nearly made Esther jump out of her skin. The glowing apparition that walked out between the bookshelves didn't do her heart any good either.

Esther froze as the glowing shifting thing came closer. It looked like a woman, with an aged and worn face. Two black eyes with seemingly infinite depth to them set in the wrinkles like precious stones. But she could see the bookshelves straight through the glowing form and the woman casted no shadows either.

Her heart hammered in her ribcage, all her muscles refusing to move in her shock. There was magic from the woman, as if she had spells around her. Esther should be running, screaming for help from the guard outside to deal with the ghost in the library but she couldn't even summon the presence of mind to think it. For all of her confidence of a ten year old, the ghost seemed to blow it away like a candle snuffed in the wind. All the ghost stories were true after all! They really did exist! Those were the only thoughts that chased themselves round and round in her head, dissolving her reason.

"You are young, to come here," the ghost said, gently.

Esther flinched away from the outstretched hand purely on reflex, fear ratcheting even higher.

"You are fearful. There is no need," the ghost said again, this time standing still and looking at her.

They locked gazes for a full minute as Esther's racing pulse slowly calmed down. The ghost just waited, softly glowing in the dark library.

"Are you a ghost?" was the first thing that tumbled out of Esther's mouth. Stupid! Maybe the ghost really will eat you now!

The ghost smiled, "No. Do you now have the knowledge you sought?"

"What are you then? People are not transparent," curiousity was starting to win over fear, the not-ghost didn't seem to be all that scary now. In fact, she was rather more comfortable talking to this not-ghost woman than her own father. The not-ghost paid attention to what she said after all.

"Me?" the not-ghost looked surprised, and replied after a moment's hesitation, "You may call me the Library. "

Esther pointed at the bookshelves behind the old woman, "that's the library. You're not a book. "

"That is the index of the Library, it is not the knowledge itself. It is knowledge about knowledge," the old woman replied, evidently giving up on getting Esther to leave. "If you do not know what you seek, the books here can tell you what you may find. "

"Hmm, that doesn't seem too useful," Esther thought aloud.

"I must concede," the old woman bowed, "It was meant to be useful but it has not been touched for the last four hundred years. "

"It isn't the knowledge, where is that?" Esther asked.

"It is me. The Library is the keeper of knowledge. Now, ask your questions. "

Esther blinked. That was strange though, no one could hope to learn even a tenth of all of this index. And this old woman was claiming to know the entire library? No, wait, she didn't say she knew it, she said she was the library. "You... are the library?" Esther asked, hesitantly.

The old woman just nodded.

"Then you must know all of the knowledge?" Esther asked again.

The old woman nodded again.

Wow, that was... incredible. She felt herself sit down on the rocky floor in shock. So all the knowledge of the ancients did exist after all! It was right here, in this not-ghost Library! Her excitement was starting to come back. There were secret treasures after all! Who else but the ancients could make something like this Library?

"How old are you?" she asked the old woman, feeling the questions pour out in her bubbling enthusiasm, "Do you remember what the ancient days were like? How do you remember all of the knowledge? What about the islands? How were they built?"

The old woman held up a hand to stem the tide, "This Library is over seven hundred years old. If you refer to the time of Lys before the islands, I remember those days, from even before I was made-"

"Wow! Seven hundred!" Esther interrupted in her delight and wonder. "You're really seven hundred years old?"

The Library nodded.

"The ancients made you?" she got the woman's nod before shooting off in another direction, "They made the islands too, yes? That's what the legends and songs say. How were the islands made?"

The old woman closed her eyes and began recounting, "the islands were made by removing the tops of large mountains. The mountaintops were then inverted and kept afloat by means of anti-gravitational engines embedded into a superstructure built directly into the rock substrate-"

"I don't understand," Esther pouted. The ancient knowledge she had been so waiting for was full of hard words and long sentences, but she could work her way through long sentences if she wanted to. The bad part was that she didn't even know any of these words, easily half of the words were new.

"What do you not understand?"

Esther shrugged, "almost all of it. What's a mountain?"

The old woman looked at her for a long moment and returned with a question, "Were you the one who requested the definition of 'garden'?"

Esther nodded and from the woman's sharp gaze, she had the feeling that she was being stupid. "Never mind then. What happened to the ancients? Why are we on these islands?"

"You live on the islands to avoid the Grey Mist. The ancients," the woman paused, suddenly looking even older and sadder than before, "they destroyed the world, and themselves. "

That was a strange explanation, she was expecting another deluge of hard words. Esther had the feeling that this one was special somehow. "How did they destroy the world? It still exists after all. "

The old woman sighed.

* * *

"Folly and pride. We believed that we could do anything, that all obstacles could be overcome. Before the Grey Mist, we built cities and magic like never before. We truly believed that anything could be done. A world where people lived in peace and did not have to work. But it was not enough. We kept reaching for more, grasping for more magic. It was never enough. War came when the magic began to run out, we destroyed the land around us in the war. The ancients were swept away before the tide and in our desperation," she shuddered, remembering the terrible times, "we made the worst mistake. We made the Grey Mist and the world... died. "

The girl sitting on the floor was looking at her wide-eyed and she snapped out of her recollection.

"Very few have asked this before," she told the girl, "it is not a good memory. "

The girl was still staring at her silently. Was it too hard for her?

"Were you there?" the girl asked in a whisper.

She nodded, "in a way, yes. " Not as a Library, certainly.

"Then you are one of them? The ancients?"

That was a hard question. She considered it for a while before replying, although a while for her was less than a blink of an eye for the girl. "This Library was my creation, one last work before I died. I have her memories, I even remember making myself. So, in a way, yes, I am one of them, but at the same time, no. "

The girl clasped a hand to her mouth, eyes as round as saucers. "You are one of the ancients," she whispered.

The Library nodded. The young girl wouldn't understand anything else.

"Why are you here?" the girl asked.

"I am the Library," she replied, "it is my role to be here to guide our children. "

"In this place?" the girl cried suddenly, gesturing around at the dark shelves, "You have their knowledge! You can build wonders! Why are you here?"

She sighed, "It was my will when I died. I am only here to preserve the knowledge we gained. Nothing more. "

"But you could... you're one of them! The Islands need you! You can do so much for us!"

She shook her head slowly, "It is not my place to lead. I have failed too many times. I have seen too much loss. " She held up a hand and the guard outside the door woke up at the soft chiming for attention. "Now, you have what you sought. I am sorry but your time here is up. "

The guard opened the door to check and the girl looked around at him in surprise before eyeing the Library suspiciously.

As the guard led the girl away, Mina suspended her hologram again, waiting for the next person to ask a question. It was surprising to see such a young girl, around ten or eleven, have such insight. Not many were interested in who Mina was.

But the answer remained the same. She could not take action. Not when she had already destroyed the world. It was up to the new generations now.


	6. Loco

**Present**

Esther crept around the back of the table.  Oh, that pastry looked interesting.  The strawberry and egg tart was not a combination she had seen before. 

She chewed on the treat, trying to be invisible against the wall.  The swarm of people milling around in conversations on the floor of the Weinbar meeting hall wasn't that threatening, but if her father found her here, or someone else who would tell her father, Esther would be in serious trouble. 

Despite the risk of being reprimanded, Esther had decided to go see what the party was all about.  She hadn't ever been to one, though Lloyd was attending every one of them regularly.  It seemed like the only time she had lessons was when there was a party on. 

This time, it looked like her father had forgotten about that so she would take full advantage of this chance. 

"Hey there," the bright voice made her turn around. 

The boy, slightly younger than her and dressed in a formal suit, looked her up and down.  She stepped back warily, aware that her dress was not quite up to the standards of the party.  After all, even her best clothing was nothing next to the sort of informal dress code that such occasions required. 

"You're not a servant right?" he asked her and when she shook her head, he put on a confident smile, "Don't you find this party a little boring?" he asked, gesturing outwardly with his glass. 

Esther looked at the bustling floor again, "No, not actually.  I wish I could talk to people.  "

To his credit, the boy recovered quickly, "Oh, well, if you want, I could introduce you to a few people. "

He held out a gloved hand invitingly.  Esther could only stare at it.  Was he hitting on her?  And she couldn't quite go into the crowd like that.  After an uncomfortable pause, he put down his hand. 

"I'm Aiva, the son of Emerit's farming director.  I know alot of people," he said, obviously trying to impress her. 

Esther considered telling him who she was but decided against it.  No matter how much she wanted to put him down, it wouldn't do to talk about that. 

"I... I'm Esther," she replied simply. 

"And who are your parents?" he asked, stepping a bit closer.  Esther backed away again, but the wall was now directly behind her.  "You couldn't have snuck in, could you?"

Actually, that was correct.  Esther narrowed her eyes at the slightly predatory look in the boy's.  Clearly he thought he could just get away with pressuring her since she was clearly a nobody.  He made the mistake of putting a hand on her shoulder. 

The magically empowered slap that sent him flying was a fantastic interruption to the party. 

* * *

That settled it, she simply had to get out of here! Esther stalked down the corridor, blazing with fury. The little ball of pulsing light hover in front of her seemed to beat in time with her anger. She had learnt to bleed off her magic safely if she ever ended up using her Arael magic accidentally.

The latest argument with her 'father' still ringing in her ears, Esther slammed the door to her room. She was not to disturb people! Not to talk to anyone! Not to be seen by guests! And definitely not allowed to use Arael magic! Anything that reminded anyone that the Weinbar family had an Arael daughter was to be ignored.

That was as good as ignoring Esther herself! What fault of hers was it that her mother had slept with an Iris man? Almost pure blood too. Esther paused in her raging to apologize to her mother, that went a bit too far. But the point stood, she wanted to do things! Not to be an embarrassing piece of furniture hidden away from sight.

Esther scowled to herself. This time, she swore, she would get away. The humiliation of being dragged back from the airport the last two times still burned her. She would need to go a little further and be a little more creative. Perhaps even leave Weinbar altogether, supposedly the TianSong areas outside were less hung-up about Araels and human blood purity.

She was under watch now. If she ran away again and was caught? Esther shuddered, she didn't want to think about what would happen to her in that case. The lashes last time was nothing to her father's threat of locking her up in a cell.

She was going to try anyway. She simply had to.

* * *

Betsy bucked under his feet as she hit an air pocket. Loco bounced in his seat, glad for the cushion Victoria had given him. He glanced over the speed and altitude meters. No change, it meant a good chance that there was no damage to the engine.

Not there was much risk in pockets of still air but Loco made it a habit to check. Carelessness and taking their airship for granted had gotten many a pilot killed, much less his customized high-speed frame with little structure to absorb shocks. And nothing but short stubby wings that were strictly for attitude adjustments and wouldn't even glide properly.

The scarf around his neck whipped in the wind as he turned around to check on the fuel levels. Less than 40 of the standard hundred wafers remained in the arm's length fuel rack. Well, that was enough to get him the remaining distance and back but he would have to buy more later today. Betsy drank fuel like people drank water, which was to say, alot when allowed to. The crystallized magic fuel wafers were expensive but he could at least afford it with his speedy deliveries.

He held out the signaller, hoping it would work, "This is Loco Barrett, calling Weinbar airport control. "

"Weinbar airport control, we hear you. Do you request a docking spot? Please state your business and declare any Araels on board. "

"Yes, request a dock for a personal class, I'm here to make a priority delivery. No Araels on board. "

"Request granted, please proceed to dock twenty one. "

Loco acknowledged and carefully tucked it away. The signalling devices were short-ranged communicators that were incredibly hard to build, the little double-fist sized block of metal and magic could cost nearly half as much as Betsy. Not many people understood how they worked anymore and whoever was still making them could charge whatever they liked.

Betsy coasted in under low power, the inefficient but powerful engine coughing magic at the limited speed. Her sleek metallic surface belied the skeletal thinness of her skin and frame. One collision or even too sharp a turn, and Betsy could be swatted out of the sky. She was light and fragile, and often speeding around at breakneck speeds. Only during approaches for landing was she slow enough that Loco could turn away from the windshield. Loco took the chance to look over the Weinbar island, he hadn't ever been here before.

The island looked much like any other, metal and stone buildings covering most of it, with a large portion covered with rows of glassy greenhouses. The streets were straight and grid-like though, unlike every other island Loco was familiar with.

This far up, the air was much colder and thinner than Loco was used to, but the height above the deadly Grey Mist below was something to be proud of. Weinbar sat at the top of all the Lands, as befit the center of the world, home to the mighty Weinbar corporation. Or perhaps it would be better to call it a government? Like everyone else, Loco had learnt that it was the world's most powerful company but it really behaved more like a government.

The Weinbar company owned just over half of all living areas in the Lands, and the best ones at that, and the TianSong union had formed through a cooperative of independent traders and small companies in the outskirts covered the rest. As the two powerful entities were natural rivals and at times, outright enemies, the few islands in the middle areas that linked Weinbar Lands to TianSong were ambiguously controlled. Ever since the Iris monarchy had collapsed in the failed Arael rebellion three hundred years ago, the Weinbar company and its TianSong rival had taken its place as political powers in all but name.

Loco's airship glided over the port and he spiraled down to the docks at the edge of the floating island. Large bulk cargo carriers had to dock at the wharves that jutted out from the island's edge, but Loco's ship was a tiny thing compared to them and he could just set down on the airfield. Right, there was the number twenty-one painted into the pavement, next to the passenger terminal. He cut the power with practiced ease and Betsy descended to a perfect gentle landing.

He grabbed the oddly shaped package, the invoice and his fire rifle and climbed out of the cockpit onto the docking ladder find an attendant running at him with arms waving.

"No weapons!" the attendant said when she was close enough, pointing at the fire rifle, "leave that in your airship. "

Loco looked around and noted the guards at the edge of the airfield, they were watching him nervously. Some had even picked up their rifles. "What if I get attacked? Won't I need one then?" he asked. No one walked in the street without a weapon. That was just asking to get robbed.

"This is Weinbar!" the attendant said indignantly, "not some uncivilized place with wild Araels. You can carry a knife or sword if you want but you'll find that Weinbar is safe. And strictly no magical weapons. "

Loco took a breath and put his rifle back into the cockpit, he felt naked without it. Still, the rumours about Weinbar being incredibly hostile to Araels looked like they were true. He shook his head slightly as he followed the attendant to the terminal.

"Do you know where Lestaire is?" he looked at the delivery address again, it was weird to have a name with a 'street' or 'road' or anything like it.

"Oh, that's one of the major streets-"

"Is that my delivery?" a young girl around his age ran over from across the terminal hall carrying a large backpack and dressed in tough grey overalls, shoulder length brown hair flying loose under a large cap pulled down past her ears.

She put down her large backpack and thrust a slip of paper into his hand, the order confirmation, and simply snatched the package before he could even read it.

Loco was about to protest when he saw the TianSong seal on the paper, it was probably legit then. As the attendant left them, he glanced down to the name. "Miss Esther I presume?"

The girl looked up from opening the paper wrapping and nodded, "Ah, yes, I have your payment here," Esther took out a bag of coins and counted them into Loco's hand. He noted the correct amount and shrugged to himself as the girl turned away to open her package.

That was weird, he never had a customer meet him before. But if she had paid and was the right recipient, he wasn't going to comment.

As Loco walked back to his airship, Esther unwrapped a small silver triangle and vanished, backpack included. No one noticed the distortion of light that followed Loco out of the terminal and into his airship.

* * *

Loco frowned as he lifted off after getting clearance. Was it just him or was the engine working harder? He knew how much Betsy weighed and judging from how sluggish she was when she rose, he could tell there was probably something caught on the frame. He set it to hover and leaned out of the cockpit to take a look. No, there were no stray cables or wires on Betsy, much less the docking ladder he was expecting. Hmm, he had better check the engine when he got back. Luckily, he had no more deliveries left today.

After Betsy sped out into the vast empty sky, there was an audible sigh behind him. He glanced at the mirror and the girl from earlier suddenly appeared, sitting in the middle of the open deck behind him used to put larger deliveries, hugging her backpack close to her body. Loco nearly jumped out of his seat.

"What?!" he sputtered at her, keeping an eye on the attitude indicator out of habit, "What are you-"

Esther put the silver triangle into her pocket, with a look of exhaustion, "I need to get off Weinbar. Take me with you, please!"

Loco looked at her incredulously, "I can't help you if you're on the run. Look, I know Araels aren't treated well on Weinbar but I've got my own issues as well. "

He nudged the control stick, and she clutched the backpack desperately as she slid over to the edge as Betsy banked, "Wait! Please! I'm not running from Weinbar!"

"If you're not in trouble, then why can't you just go on a passenger ship?" he shot back, "I'm headed all the way to the Weinbar border. "

"It's my family. They'll be looking for me and they can stop any old ship," she scrabbled again in a small bag on the side of her backpack, "Look, I have money, I can pay you to take me wherever you're going. It'll be worth it!"

Loco hesitated at that, the three deca-Talens in her hand was at least a week's profit and she clearly had quite a few more. But to take such a huge risk with the Weinbar enforcers did not sit well with him. "Sorry, I can't do this," he said simply, the airport was coming up ahead.

He watched her squeeze her eyes shut in frustration. Her expression was of sheer desperation, she was clearly very anxious to get away from the island discreetly. Esther slowly drew out a single straight silver rod about an inch long with white knuckles. "I... I don't..." she stammered, hands shaking.

Loco thought quickly. The girl was an Arael, any Arael with a single offensive spell would quite easily win a battle in this close quarters before he could even draw his fire rifle, but regardless of whether he could subdue her, they would both die if she used any kind of offensive magic as Betsy would not survive, fragile as the airship was. She probably didn't know that. That meant there was only one thing he could do if he wanted to get out of this alive.

Before she said anything she couldn't take back, Loco interrupted, "All right, I've changed my mind," he nudged the control stick again and Betsy continued her turn, "This'll cost you a hundred Talens. "

Esther sighed in relief, dropping her silvery spike, "I- I don't know how to thank you. Really, thank you very much. "

Loco looked back at the girl warily. There was only the three golden coins in her hand and if he was right about the silver being her trigger, she was leaving herself wide open. Esther was clearly inexperienced at security, if not completely naive. If he was going to kill this hijacker-wannabe, he could do it now.

He watched her for a while, reading her relieved and tired expression. Well, a hundred talens was about a month's work and there was something a little wrong with shooting a defenseless girl like that.

Esther took her cap off and let her hair loose. The two pointed ears peeked out from under the brown waves. Loco could only stare, "you're... you're from Iris!"

"Oh!" her ears twitched a little, "Uh, yeah, my family's from there. Is that a problem?"

Loco shook his head, both to her and to himself. She was probably a minor relation of Iris then; Weinbar must be really hostile to Araels if even Iris wasn't accepted there.

The signalling device squawked, "Weinbar airport control here. Do you need help?"

Loco thumbed the transmitter, leveling out onto his original route, "Loco Barrett, just a little navigation error, nothing to worry about. "

"You might want to get that ship checked," the operator said. Before he closed the connection, Loco heard him mutter, "bloody TianSong mercs..."

Loco grimaced at the stab of irritation and gunned the throttle to full speed.


	7. Victoria

Loco brought his airship around the edge of the Nimby Garden island. The Lands did not all have equivalent lift generators and size. The higher they were above the deadly Grey Mist below, the better their generators and more well-maintained they were. It was an informal sort of ranking, the important Lands would have more attention paid to them and their generators serviced more often.

With the distance between the islands, mostly for safety and to prevent any accidents with Grey Mist on an island from spreading, motion between the Lands was all conducted by airships. Luckily, airships were one of the easier to understand magical devices, although the Lands themselves used a very different lifting principle involving coordinated anti-gravitational counterweights that was barely understood anymore.

Nimby Garden itself lay somewhere in between the upper Weinbar held Lands and the lower areas which were the domain of the TianSong. Even though airships could quite easily drop from Weinbar to the Outskirts or even low-lying Frontier Lands, the reverse climb was much harder. Hence the profit that islands like Nimby Garden made as a gateway between the two disparate zones.

The silver-grey rows came into focus, with brownish stains showing on older structures.  The haphazard buildings around the edge of Nimby Garden flew by and Loco quickly located the reddish three storey building that was his signal to turn inwards. As he approached his personal hangar, a simple corrugated metal roof over the smoothed rock ground, he turned around to talk to Esther.

"Are whoever you are running from going to chase you?"

She nodded, "Almost certainly. Although they won't be searching too hard or too obviously. "

"Then you don't want to be seen around too much. If you want, you can stay at my house for a few days," he said, "I have a room I use for storage that you can stay in. "

Esther perked up for a moment then suddenly deflated, "but I don't have much more money. I think I have enough to live on for a while, but I can't pay you much more. "

Loco glanced forward to check that Betsy was still on track. Did he really need that? Sure, it seemed like the girl was rich but perhaps he was mistaken. The hundred talens must be most of her money. And it would already go a long way towards affording the engine booster he was looking forward to trying.

He sighed, turning back to the front, "it's ok, Iris is planning a Landfall soon. I have an airship and if you help me, I'm sure it'll pay for your stay. "

"Landfall? But what do you have to do with a Landfall?"

Loco blinked but didn't look away, they were almost there already, "What do you mean? Everyone has everything to do with a Landfall!" He paused for a while as Betsy glided through the open doors of the small workshop that was most of his house. "There's all that soil and water just for the taking!"

He saw Esther shake her head, not understanding him, "Betsy can lift up to two hundred kilograms of cargo. That much water will sell for nearly twenty talens! Of course, the faster I get water, the more money I make from a Landfall, and that's where you come in. Where the heck did you grow up that you wouldn't know that water is expensive?"

"I do know that water is expensive," Esther said, "but I never really thought about it. Does Weinbar not control who goes to the ground?"

Loco laughed, "Ha, no! Iris clears the Grey Mist away and everyone with an airship goes! I'm sure Weinbar would like to monopolize it, but the area is just too big. Besides, the ground belongs to no one. They don't have that right. "

The airship landing on the workshop floor cut their conversation short.

"Ah, you can use the room up there," Loco pointed at the door on the end of the walkway on the second storey. He turned back to his airship to do something complicated.

Esther nodded back and climbed out of the airship carefully. The workshop floor was a plain grey rock, leveled but not smoothed, the walls a cheap corrugated metal. Red rust was everywhere. Scattered around the edges were various tools and magical devices, as well as spare parts of unknown purpose. To one side, there was a metal staircase that lead to a walkway on the second storey with the two rooms. Presumably, the one nearer the staircase was Loco's room.

Below the second storey area was an open storage area with more devices and tools. A door set into the metal wall looked well-oiled, it was probably his front door, judging from the window next to it with metal louvers. There was a simple shower and toilet in the corner under Loco's room with nothing to divide it from the main workshop.

Esther frowned. "That's a problem," she said, pointing at the shower.

Loco looked up from the open panel in the airship, "What is? The shower works fine. It's best to shower just before dusk as it is only heated by the sun, in that tank up there. " He pointed to the roof. "If you want, you can use it. "

"That's not the problem!" Esther gritted her teeth, "it doesn't have doors! Or anything at all! You can't expect me to use it!"

Loco blinked at her for a moment and suddenly coughed, "Ah, sorry. I've been living alone, I never thought... uh, I'll fix up a curtain after I finish this. "

Esther nodded, still feeling the heat on her face.

The room Loco had lent her was really a storage room and clearly hadn't been used much. The metal floor, roof and walls did not help make it look any better. Boxes were thrown haphazardly around the room and a fine layer of dust had settled over the everything. Esther didn't see anything that might serve as a bed, but at least she had brought a sleeping bag.

Overall, this whole place was rather worse than she had expected. But at least she had experienced worse in her 'explorations' when she couldn't stand being around her father any longer.  
Esther put down her bag and rolled up her sleeves. She would be here for some time, so she might as well clean it up. Esther thought she had seen a rag in the workshop.

* * *

Esther wiped the sweat that was creeping back onto her brow with her sleeve, glad for the heavy clothing she had brought. The dust and grease was all over the place and she was starting to think that it might be endless. She soaked the rag again in the dirty black pail of water.

The bottle of rust-removal liquid she was scrubbing at the stain on the wall had been a struggle to get Loco to let her use. He had never used it except for cleaning his airship.

Esther sniffed, watching Loco re-check one of the mysterious pieces in the back of the airship. Whoever was maniac enough to name his airship Betsy was a little... too focused. She wasn't about to forget the issue with the shower. At times, Loco would go over to the wall to get another piece or tool and return to the airship, but he didn't even seem to notice her unless she got close to the airship or did anything with one of any number of tools that concerned it.

She glanced back at the wall and noticed the spot had long rubbed off.

The pail of water sucked at her hand and Esther grimaced. The black slime in the bucket didn't deserve to be called water.

"How long was it since you last cleaned this house?" she shot back at him, still looking at the goop a little disbelievingly.

"What?" Loco looked up from his maintenance work, "Um... I don't remember when exactly. Certainly not in the last few months. "

"Ugh," Esther said involuntarily, dropping the rag into the pail. To think she had been wading through this! "Can you fix up the curtain? I think I'd like to shower. "

Loco looked down at the engine part he was cleaning, "Can't I finish this first?"

Esther scowled, gesturing at their grimy clothing.

"All right, fine," he muttered, walking to the side to pick up a tube shaped magical device.

"What's that do?" Esther asked him as he picked up a coil of recycled scrap metal.

"It's a blowtorch. I'll make a curtain holder on the ceiling around the shower, so can you get that cloth over there?" he pointed at the dusty white pile against the corner, "If you could cut it down to size, that'll make it go faster. "

As Esther cut holes for the curtain to go around the rail, Loco pointed at the toilet next to the shower. "Also, when you're happy with the cleaning, you should empty the pail into the drain for the shower, not the toilet. Toilet waste is collected and they pay nearly half a Talen per month. "

Esther paused, "They pay you to take away your waste?"

"Yeah, its used to grow crops, as fertilizer. Only waste goes down the toilet, if you put other things in it, they might refuse to collect. "

* * *

Esther looked at the shower. Having it out in the main area of the workshop was far too embarrassing, even with the curtain. Worse still, Loco seemed to be completely oblivious to her discomfort.

Well, even though it was only midday, Loco was out on a delivery now. If she wanted to shower in private, now was the time to do it. She hummed to herself as she drew the heavy white sheet. Even without anyone around, she still felt like she needed some privacy.

It felt really good to be finally sleeping in a clean place, even Loco had admitted that the cleaned workshop was much better than before. The shower poured some water gently over her and Esther scowled to herself at the low pressure. She did understand that Loco couldn't afford too much water and she wasn't going to take advantage of his hospitality, but it was so irritating to have to clean herself with so little!

The sound of the front door opening, just four meters away, made her freeze. Who was that that had Loco's keys!? He wouldn't be walking back without Betsy.

"Loco! I got you some... oh, gosh, sorry, I didn't mean to intr-... oh, you have a shower curtain now!"

That was a girl's voice, she even sounded familiar with Loco. Esther gulped, who was that?

"Hello? Wait, Betsy isn't here! Who are you?!"

A hand suddenly brushed the curtain aside and Esther squeaked in shock, futilely trying to cover herself. The other girl's piercing blue eyes, with a very distinctive reddish ring around the edges, widened in surprise.

"What? Who are- I... are you-?" the other girl stammered for a moment. They looked at each other, Esther's embarrassment growing by the second.

The girl suddenly grinned and turned away politely. Esther caught some of her rapidfire mutterings as she hurriedly dried off.

"Oh, I never noticed, Loco. Have you finally awoken? But you could just have told me! Your dearest is always here..." she wriggled a little and squealed.

Esther pulled her overalls on, trying to avoid attention. Was everyone near Loco weird in the head? She sure hoped it wasn't catching.

"Say!" the girl spun around and grabbed Esther's hands, "you are staying here right? right?"

In the face of her whirlwind like speed, Esther could only nod. The girl immediately went off on another spiel to herself, "oh, I knew it! Loco, you sly little bug, you never said anything! No, don't worry," she turned back to Esther, pushing a little too close. Esther futilely tried to pull away but the girl just came even nearer. "I won't intrude on your relationship," the girl shook Esther's hands vigorously, "oo, you're so cute too! Ah, I'm probably going on too much but, this is big!"

She let Esther go and ran a few steps into the workshop, "now, I'll leave you to your privacy. I've probably overstayed my welcome. "

Esther raised a hand to interrupt her but the girl just rode right over it, trotting out the door, "and so Loco enters the world of adults!"

The girl shot Esther a knowing wink and with that closed the front door behind her.

Esther stared blankly at the vanished girl. She had just come and gone like a typhoon and Esther hadn't even managed to ask her name.

* * *

"A strange girl came by this afternoon," Esther said as Loco got out of his airship.

Loco looked at her wet hair for a moment and shrugged, "what did she look like?"

"Blue eyes with a red ring around her pupils, curly yellow hair and," Esther sniffed unconsciously, "a large chest. Talked non-stop, I couldn't even say anything. She also left this outside the door. "

Loco opened the bag of doughnuts and Esther slapped his oily fingers away with a sharp look. He snorted and walked over to the shower to wash his hands, "that must have been Victoria. "  
He came back and took a doughnut before turning back to the airship. When no further explanation was forthcoming, Esther asked, "she seems familiar with you, who is she?"

"A friend," he said, opening a panel in the nose, "she comes quite often. You don't have to worry about her, she can keep secrets. She hears alot of news too. "

"Is she always like that? She seems more-"

"Her talkativeness? Yeah, she's like that. It makes her popular at the tavern where she works. "

Well, that wasn't exactly what she was going to ask but Esther was reluctant continue. For one, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know what kind of strange friendship these two had.


	8. Delivery

"Esther?" Loco said suddenly and she looked up from the silvery bangle she was concentrating on. The invisible detection spell collapsed.

Loco put down his transmitter and continued, "Do you want to come on a delivery? This one doesn't pay an early delivery bonus so going slower with you on board is fine. "

Esther raised an eyebrow, "And? I can't do anything to help you. "

"Well, the delivery is nearly a hundred bottles of wine. It's very heavy and an extra pair of hands would be useful. "

Esther grinned at him, so that was the catch. She knew by now that Loco did not do things without a reason. "I'll help. You just needed to ask. Being cooped up in this house for a week is getting boring. "

* * *

Betsy rumbled to life and Loco slowly throttled up the power. Fuel, check; controls, check; safety straps, check; altimeter test... check; balance level, check. Esther looked around the back of the pilot seat, strapped securely to the side of the airship.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Checking to make sure everything works," Loco replied, mentally crossing off the lifting power test.

"Don't you check that all the time? I always see you working on the airship. "

Loco looked at her, remembering to check the ailerons, "you always check before you fly. If something goes wrong in the sky, you'll crash and there is only the Grey Mist down there. All too many pilots die that way," he put his foot on the lift pedal and pushed it down, feeling Betsy lift off the floor. He added with emphasis, "I'm not going to be one of them. "

Betsy backed out of the hangar slowly and Loco said conversationally, "We're going to pick up the crates from the Association first. I'd need your help with both loading and unloading. "

Esther nodded, half-eagerly.

As Betsy circled Nimby Garden, the rows of corrugated metal roofs flew past under them. Loco was aware of Esther's watching the people on the ground fly by but he had to keep his attention on the air lanes above the city.

The streets of Nimby Garden were thin and windy like many islands, except perhaps Weinbar or the ancient city Iris. Most dwellings would be somewhere near one of the many cargo docking towers and air traffic was commonly used to shift larger quantities of good that carts could not carry or were too far away. Only the older or much richer cities could afford to waste space on large open lanes. Land was at a premium when farming area was limited.

The result was a chaotic mess of hawker stands and mini-markets that lined the choked streets with colourful banners, where the makeshift stalls stopped and progressively sturdier dwellings began was unclear. It was common to see shophouses with the owners of a small shop staying directly above or below the storefront. The streets themselves wound to the shape of the land, cramming in as much living space as possible.

Policing them was next to impossible and petty crime was often enforced by the locals, with the local enforcers stepping in only with major crimes that resulted in death. Often not even that. The dwellings grew better as they progressed away from the edge and the richer quarters were even made of stone. There they had private security measures.

Esther took it all in with interest, occasionally pointing out an interesting decoration or statue. Loco just nodded at her questions, not really hearing them, but he did note how she seemed to be completely amazed by a perfectly normal sight. Well, it probably wasn't normal for her.

"It's so... alive! There's so many people down there, and so many things," she added wistfully. Loco just nodded again, this time less indulgently, she must be wanting to go out of the house badly. Perhaps he ought to talk to Victoria about that, she might know if anyone was looking for a missing daughter, especially if he could get Esther to tell him her family name.

He was about to say something when an explosion rocketed up from near the edge of the island. That was very close to the Association! That wasn't too far away and the dull thunder accompanied a large plume of black smoke that shot into the sky rolled over them. Reacting instantly, Loco banked away from his course, rising into the air to get clear of the more crowded lower lanes.

The wave of magic swept past, much slower than the sound, and Esther perked up, her pointed ears clearly twitching under the cap.

"Go look at it," she said suddenly.

"What?!" Loco exclaimed, that was ridiculous, "You felt that magic! If two Araels are having a fight out there, you don't want to butt in. The Enforcers will clean it up. "

"I'm an Arael remember?" Esther said, clutching a small square, "I can defend us if need be. "

"No! It's still too dangerous. Betsy is very fragile! One hit and we're dead!"

"It's a single source! I don't know what it was, but maybe a magical device blew up? We might be able to help!"

Loco glared at her, "We can't do anything to help. Especially if it's a single source it might be-" Another wave of magic went past, but there wasn't a second explosion. Almost immediately, another wave of magic shot past, with an explosion this time. Loco pointed at the second plume, this one with a fire lighting it from underneath, "that is definitely a TA Arael. We are not going anywhere near it. "

Not many humans trusted Araels, and for good reason. Araels had a very small chance of entering Tezmon's Aphenasia, a state where their magic went berserk and out of control until it ran low. Their wildly swinging emotions during that period often made them go crazy, which always made matters worse. It was also unfortunate that TA episodes cause their sufferers to greatly increase in power.

"But... but..." Esther's fingers were white around the silver square in her hand, "there must be something we can do. "

"TAs are crazy! You know this!" he felt like he ought to give Esther a good shake, whatever her problem was, "She might laugh at you one minute and blast you the next. Not even a pure-blood would be able to stand against TA Arael for long, much less a half like you. "

"And we're just going to let the Weinbar Enforcers kill... that person?"

Loco stared at her, "Yes? Or let TianSong take them away, whichever one gets here first. You know the rule and bad things happen to those who go against an Enforcer squad-"  
The scattering civilian traffic had mostly fled away from the explosions demolishing the buildings around the unseen Arael. Beyond the cluster of smoke, a sudden large bulk rose over the edge of the island, the bright red cross on a blue background of the Weinbar insignia splashed proudly across it.

"Oh gods, that's a Weinbar frigate!" Loco felt his hackles rise. It must have approached from below the edge of the island to avoid being seen by the TA Arael. "What the heck is one doing here?! I was expecting TianSong enforcers!" he flicked a few switches and throttled Betsy into a long arc away from the area. Even sticking around to get to the Association would be better done from a longer distance.

Esther seemed frozen to her seat. They watched the frigate absorb a magical blow from the unseen Arael, its Arael crew working in concert with magical shields to dissipate the blast. Then a large wave of magic wafted out from the frigate, one stronger than even the initial explosions, that had to be multiple Araels working together or a large magical device. Loco peered suspiciously at long black barrel sticking out the front and suddenly realized what was going to happen.

"They're going to fire into a residential neighbourhood?!" he exclaimed in disbelief. Just to prove him right, a shockingly bright beam of light stabbed to the ground from the frigate's Light cannon, the roar of superheated air being smashed aside with sheer power blew past them. For a second, the beam stayed then just as quickly as it appeared, the light disappeared to leave only black afterimages behind.

Of the target area, there was only a rapidly cooling puddle of molten metal and blasted rock. Everything remotely combustible had been burned away in that single savage hammerblow. The frigate hung there for a few moments then when it was satisfied, parked itself right over the wreckage area to let down a land team.

"My god, you Weinbar people are ruthless," Loco muttered to himself, "just because it's not a Weinbar territory doesn't mean you can just use a Light cannon like that. "

Esther was clenching her teeth and fighting back tears of frustration. To be frank, Loco didn't much like the idea of killing out of control Araels but he was willing to admit that there was very little they could do. But still, to use a weapon for war in the middle of the densely populated neighbourhood was as good as advertising that they didn't care at all what would happen to its occupants. And since this was Nimby Garden, the correlation with neutral or TianSong territories was clear. Sure, it was better than letting the Arael rampage but it didn't mean Loco had to like this solution.

The all-clear sounded across the transmitter channels. The Weinbar Enforcers had found no traces remaining of the TA Arael. Loco nudge the control stick to bring Betsy back on course.

* * *

"Yeah, that was a nasty bit of business," Carver, a colleague said, flipping through the shipping manifests in the office above the Nimby-Salva-Emerit Deliveries Association hangar, "we could feel the shockwaves from here. "

Loco nodded gravely. Carver was a good friend and a reliable colleague who advertised and found contracts for the actual pilots in the association. Without his business skills and powers of negotiation, there would be much fewer jobs for Loco and other pilots, and at lower pay too even accounting for the commission Carver took.

"Let's see, oh you're doing Nim's request for that hundred bottles of Gracias. Yeah, it's on rack 7. The whole rack. Due today by 6pm so you've got slightly more than eight hours. Should be no problem for Betsy?"

Loco nodded and Carver ticked off the line in his book. Just before Loco left though, Carver interrupted, indicating towards Esther, standing in the corner of the office looking slightly deflated, with his head. "Who's that by the way? A new pilot you wanted to introduce?"

"Oh, no, she's just a helper. I asked her to help me move those bottles. Betsy can lift all of us though and I'll still get there on time especially since we'll be heading downwards. " Loco thought for a while, it couldn't hurt to ask Carver too, Carver heard things among the more upper class than Victoria, "also, have you heard of anyone looking for a missing daughter? I don't exactly have time to keep up with the latest gossip. "

Carver blinked at Loco for a long while, "there's always someone or two missing. A word of advice if you may?" Loco nodded for him to continue, "the Enforcers are not fun to mess with. I don't know who is doing the asking, but..." he leaned forward conspiratorially, "there are some very powerful people sniffing around lately. I won't be mentioning any wild guesses of mine to anyone, but be careful, you hear me?"

Loco nodded again, "I'll do that. "

"Hmm," Carver sat back in his chair, "well, it's none of my business, but kid, you'll need all the good luck I can wish you. She looks pretty high maintenance," he winked at Loco.

Loco sniffed frostily back at him, "just a helper. " he repeated.


	9. Extension

_Anyone knows the danger Araels pose.  They are never unarmed, their magic being as strong as a full squad of human militia or even the self-defence guns of a merchant airship.  And they are prone to violent emotions that are displayed in episodes of Tezmon's Aphenasia, during which they are even more dangerous than usual.  The work of Tezmon in exploiting the mania that descends on unfortunate Araels in this state is the fundamental technique that has allowed us to contain and suppress such episodes._

_More, Araels are also rumoured to have a rare state called Aphenasia, which is the original true Aphenasia that TA derives its name from.  This extremely rare but also extremely dangerous state happens when an Arael runs out of magic.  What is frightening is that Aphenasia victims are rumoured to be even more powerful than those in TA episodes.  This is a serious public concern and the Weinbar group has pledged to guarantee work for all Araels to avoid any going short on Extension._

_Yet, some ask, why have we not rid ourselves of Araels?  Araels are like any powered tool, both dangerous and yet immensely useful.  Araels are the primary source of magical devices, the construction of which requires too much magic for humans to easily build.  Furthermore, their services also serve as a flexible magical device that can do things that would be too expensive or complicated to do otherwise._

_In the face of such danger, it is only normal that citizens ask how they may defend themselves.  A Weinbar Enforcer Leader gives this special interview where we will outline basic techniques for avoiding the attention of an Arael in a TA episode._

_\-- The Emerit Gazette, Public Information article sponsored by Weinbar Corp_

* * *

"I need to go out," Esther said one afternoon as Loco chewed on his lunch sandwich while he inspected Betsy again.

"I thought you were going to stay here?" Loco replied offhand, not even turning away from the panel he was meticulously screwing back in and reapplying sealant. There were no more deliveries for the rest of today and he had just obtained a new fuel rack so he was performing the day's post-flight checks.

"It doesn't matter what my reasons have been for the past two weeks," Esther continued, a tone of determination in her voice, "I am going out. I need to buy something. "

"I already told you that Carver has confirmation that Weinbar enforcers have been looking for someone, probably you. I still don't know who you are, but it seems that I have been wrong about how all this would cost me," Loco shot back, why was she so insistent anyway? Even if her family somehow managed to convince the Weinbar private security forces to search for their runaway daughter, they wouldn't be able to keep them distracted from their real duties of enforcing the land taxes. He was already wondering how much her family were paying Weinbar, and by extension, how important this strange girl really was.

He stood up, satisfied with the panel's integrity, "Look, if you go out there and someone recognizes you, I'm in major trouble. I understand that being cooped up in this hangar for three weeks is very boring, but at this point, it's not just about you. I can't let you go out there until it blows over," he pointed at the door with his wrench for emphasis. Sighing, he conceded a little, "if you want, I can take you on another delivery. It might not be-"

Esther interrupted him, "it's not about being in here. I'll agree that staying here hasn't been pleasant, but this time, I am going. " She glanced at the fire rifle leaning against the far wall, Loco noted, "You won't be able to stop me. "

The silver spike was still hanging off her belt and even though she hadn't touched it, they were both undoubtedly thinking of it.

Loco sighed again, not too impressed with her threat, she had almost broken down the time when she tried to hijack his ship. She wouldn't be able to do anything now. "Why are you so eager to go then? What is this you need to buy? I'll get it for you. "

"Not something you can buy without attracting attention," Esther said, holding up a small round metal ball, completely drained of its magical charge, "I ran out of Extension. You won't be able to get that if you aren't an Arael. "

They looked at each other. Humans recovered magic over time and magical damage was easily healed with a little bed rest. But Araels had to consume raw magic regularly to stay alive, a consequence of being able to command far more magic than normal humans was that they continuously bled magic in tiny amounts instead of regenerating. They needed Extension, the little metal balls contained raw magic and spells to make the recharging process intuitive enough that even babies could use it. Left alone, Araels would eventually die from the drain, through a nasty process called Aphenasia where what was left of their destabilized lifeforce destroyed itself in an explosion of magic. While similar, it was not the same thing as a TA episode, Aphenasia was infinitely rarer.

It was certainly a good reason to go out, Loco admitted. Without it, Esther would definitely die within a few days, and in a spectacularly explosive way that would either kill Loco outright or demolish his house and attract enough attention as to why and how he managed to confine an Arael here. Plus, he didn't want to kill her either.

And the TianSong office selling Extension would be very suspicious of Loco, definitely not an Arael, wanting to buy it. Not even the black market could be counted on to sell something that was tightly controlled by both factions, as control of Extension was the main method for controlling Araels. There was also the fact that any Arael rich enough to make smuggling Extension worthwhile would also be able to get Extension while following the rules set by either side. 

Still, the risk was too high. Loco did not want to think of what would happen to him if the Enforcers from either side caught him sheltering an Arael runaway.

He held up a hand, "Let me think about this, you don't need to leave now right?"

Esther nodded and Loco leaned against Betsy, closing his eyes in thought.

Turn her out of the house? But then he would lose the help for the Landfall and he was almost certainly sure that she wouldn't last. There had been a rapid rise in the number of Weinbar Enforcers here in Nimby Garden in the last week, ostensibly on patrol but no one believed that this far outside Weinbar territory. And besides, he'd already spent too much effort in making sure she didn't get caught to throw in the towel now.

What about obtaining Extension? It might be possible...

"Esther, do you know how to make Extension?" Loco asked, she shook her head and he wrinkled his nose. So much for that plan.

"I do know that it is basically raw magic though," Esther said, "It's just that I spend more magic making it than it gives me. You need to make it with an Attractor, a source of magic. "

Raw magic? Hmm, Loco wasn't too familiar with how magical devices not related to airships worked but he did know something about the basics of magic. All devices that did anything used magical power, like Betsy. The only way to gain power was to have a human or Arael use magic or have a magical device called an Attractor suck it from the loose magic in the surroundings. Attractors were highly controlled devices as they were very hard to make and thus extremely valuable.

And the primary method for storing power between uses was magic unshaped into any spell or form.

Essentially, the only fuel Betsy used... was raw magic. And far more magic than even an Arael could put out. He had no doubt that Esther could lift Betsy by herself and shake her like a pepperpot but Betsy had to run and keep running for hours. Sometimes days. And she would keep running until her magic ran out, while Esther would run low on magic and need Extension in minutes. There was certainly enough magic in Betsy to recharge Esther's magic.

He opened the almost-empty rack of magical fuel and plucked out one of the last crystals with a carefully neutralized pair of gloves. It wouldn't do to have the thing blowing up on him if he handled it roughly. It was so fragile that it would crumble to pieces if he squeezed it just a bit too hard.

"What about this?" he held up the palm sized crystal, "If I'm not wrong, this is raw magic too. "

"You shouldn't, your fuel is even more expensive than Extension. "

"But it's something we can get easily," Loco continued hold it out, "Extension isn't.  "

Esther examined it closely, "maybe. It's... alot more concentrated and less structured than Extension. It's not even formed like a spell at all. Doesn't it get unstable?"

"Well, if I leave it outside the container, it'll evapourate in a few hours. Extension doesn't do that right?" he indicated the empty metal ball.

"No," she shook her head, "I might be able to..." she reached out and touched it. The crystal rippled and the surface under her finger evapourated. Esther quickly pulled back and sucked on the tingling digit. "Hm, I did manage to suck off a bit of magic but it's really hard. I could do it better if it was closer. I think. "

She gingerly picked up the crystal which promptly broke into pieces, leaving only a small piece trapped between her fingers. The rest of it fell away and Loco caught the falling pieces. Taking out a small silver circle, Esther closed her eyes, a small field of magic enveloped it. Oh, she was trying to catch the magic before it-

The piece of crystal exploded in a puff and Esther yelped as her hand stung from the blow. Unformed magic, when misdirected, also served to disrupt magical spells and formations, which included the lifeforce of people. Loco was well aware that had the entire fuel crystal exploded between her fingers, she might have been in serious trouble. It was why fuel crystals were a controlled substance, one could use them as a makeshift weapon simply by throwing them to hit someone. Of course, being an airship pilot and engineer, Loco had a permit.

But he let Esther think it through. She knew magic better than he did, being an Arael. Loco only knew devices.

"I need to surround a small piece with my lifeforce and drain it before it can evapourate," she said finally, "my hand is too thin. "

Picking up another tiny piece, she tossed it into her mouth in one swift motion. Loco winced as he heard a muffled pop as it evapourated. "What are you doing?" he asked incredulously.

"This sort of works actually," Esther grinned, "I can catch almost all the magic. "

She broke off another tiny piece and ate it with the accompanying pop. "It's quite interesting actually, popping in your mouth. Doesn't taste of anything though. "

Loco carefully put down the pieces of fuel crystal on the work table on the side of the hangar. "I can't believe you're just eating airship fuel," he said wryly.

"Don't get me wrong," she said, as another piece disappeared into her mouth, "Extension is alot easier to use and much less magically wasteful and I'd rather use that, but this works.  Sort of.  "

She looked down at the remaining pieces. There was still more than half a crystal on the table. "This is enough for now though. If I don't use magic, it'll last a week or so. You should take the rest back, I feel bad for eating something so expensive. "

Loco waved a hand, "I can't use these pieces anymore so you might as well eat it all. I thought Araels can take more Extension than they need?"

"Mmm, yes, I can," Esther said, "Although it gets more inefficient the more I take. The more magic I have, the faster I lose it. If I take too much, I might lose magic faster than I can get it from Extension. " She looked at the bits of crystal on the table, "I think this is more magic than I've ever had though. Maybe enough for a week and a half. "

Well, it wasn't like he could put a broken fuel crystal back into the rack. But to see her nibble carefully on a large piece of blue-white crystal was just a bit too ridiculous.

Esther caught him grinning and they shared a small quiet moment of laughter, excess magic wafting off her like an aura.


	10. Sasa

_Tension between Weinbar Corporation and TianSong Conglomerates are on the rise again.  An inside source, who declined to be named, from the central offices in Weinbar gives us this exclusive report on the situation._

_TianSong claims that Weinbar's private military Enforcers have broken laws in Emerit, Salva and Nimby Gardens and at the request of their own private clients, TianSong Enforcers will defend private spaces.  Weinbar claims that TianSong is unable to control TA Araels in those areas and they are forced to intervene at the behest of their clients.  The Iris monarchy declined to comment._

_Readers may wish to note that the Nimby Gardens incident certainly backs up the Weinbar claim.  Nevertheless, we are trying to reach our sources in those areas as well as in TianSong for more information._

_\-- Weinbar Reports_

* * *

"They're giving up. "

"Thank you, Jacob. "

Jacob bowed. Sasa sighed and looked up into the sky, lying on the grass in the Iris private garden.

"I am sorry, but she seems to have hidden her tracks well. She could be anywhere among the Lands by now and TianSong is not exactly cooperative. "

So Esther finally did it, hm? Sasa had Jacob find out whether the girl who climbed the wall of this garden so many years ago really was from Weinbar. Apparently, she had not been lying, there really was a Weinbar Arael.

It felt wrong to be happy at someone else's problems, but Sasa was glad that there was someone who could understand her position. No wonder they had felt such a connection in that short time.

"Any reason why she decided to leave this time?"

"No, not that I could find out," Jacob shook his head, "I suspect only her father or mother would know that. "

Sasa laughed bitterly, "It's okay. It's not as if she's about to get married to someone she's never seen before. "

Jacob didn't reply for a long while, "Your mother is sad that you oppose the marriage. "

"Of course I do. I understand all the reasons why the Iris core family has to marry early. We have to carry on the family line," she spat out, "but it doesn't change the fact that I can't like it. "

"Perhaps if you explained your reasons, your mother would understand, " Jacob offered.

"Ha! She never listens, she doesn't understand me because she won't not because she can't," Sasa pouted.

Jacob's gentle words were a surprise. Sasa had only gotten brushed off whenever she was whiny, although she had yet to realize it. "Your mother understands you better than you think. "

Sasa sat up and eyed him curiously, "Really?" She watched him nod. She had never seen her mother even try to understand Sasa's reasons for wanting to go out of the family compound. Much less a 'too complex for you' matter like this arranged marriage.

But if Jacob said so... "Alright, I'll give it a try. But only because you said to. "

* * *

Anaur Araelas Iris looked up from the report on the upcoming Landfall preparations as the office door opened and her daughter came in.

She sighed. The weak hope on her face and the slouch told Anaur that her daughter was probably going to protest the arranged marriage.

Sure enough, she began, "I want to talk about the marriage. "

Anaur nodded for her to continue.

"You know I don't like it, but Jacob tells me that I should explain my reasons. "

That was surprising, but at least she wasn't throwing a fit like when Anaur first told her about it. "Go on," she said, quite sure that whatever the reasons, it wouldn't be good enough. If her daughter had the breadth of vision to understand all the undercurrents and give good reasons, and she did not, she would also understand how necessary this was. Although it certainly wasn't pleasant.

That didn't stop Anaur from throwing her own fit when she was sixteen and getting married, just like her daughter was doing now.

"I'm too young for this," her daughter started, "Getting married is not something I can even imagine doing, much less having children! Besides, well... um, " she fidgeted.

"Not confident enough?" Anaur couldn't resist the playful dig at her daughter's boyish figure. "The Iris line develops late. You don't need to worry, I was like that when I was your age," she smiled at her daughter's flush of embarrassment.

That applied to the men as well. One of the hallmarks of only the nearly pure Iris lines was that they took an extra year or two to take on adult features. She didn't know when it started, but it certainly wasn't part of their family marker and due to Iris's marriage requirements, it had never been bred out. It was inconvenient, especially given how hard it was for Iris to have children in the first place. No other family would stand for such levels of in-breeding but Iris never had a choice.

"Also, I don't even know this guy!" her daughter continued, "You say he's a branch family member but I've never met him before! He's also old enough to be my uncle!"

"He is your uncle," Anaur corrected her, "two or three removed, I think. " It got more than a little complex to work out the exact relationship of a branch family member to the core Iris family given how much the Iris families intermarried, in an effort to keep the blood pure. At least the branch families had the option of marrying out though, on the pain of expulsion from the Iris line, but the core family had no such path.

"Whatever, the point is that I am too young for him. Not even Father was much older than you were, so why should I marry someone more than ten years older than me?"

Anaur put down her pen. "There are things here that you don't understand," she began, but Sasa cut in.

"You never explain them! Maybe you do have a good reason for this but I don't know it. "

"The situation is very complicated!" Anaur forcibly took a breath to cool herself. She did not like being interrupted and her daughter knew her buttons all too well. "Even if I explained, you would not understand why, and you wouldn't be able to keep it a secret. Can you keep a secret when it comes to this marriage you hate so much? Even from Jacob?"

Sasa sniffed and raised her head defiantly, "that depends on how stupid a secret it is. "

Anaur sighed . At some level, she knew her daughter was just being intentionally difficult but she could not suppress the bout of irritation. The memory of the epic shouting match they had had when Anaur first broached the topic of marriage plans still grated badly on her.

"Oh, stupid it is," Anaur spat acidly, "incredibly stupid. That doesn't make telling you why a good idea, or a risk I am willing to take. Not when the consequences are severe enough to risk everything. Believe me, if it wasn't the politics involved, I wouldn't even be considering asking you to marry this uncle!"

Oops, even that was a bit too much. Anaur didn't think her daughter would be able to piece together the hints but the fact remained that while she didn't want to marry her daughter off, two other very big players were leaning on her and Anaur didn't see a way around it.

"If it's not him, it's just going to be someone else," her daughter began, proving Anaur's intuition right. She wasn't thinking about anything other than her own dislike of the marriage.  
There was a knock on the door and it opened to let a servant into the office.

"Madam, there is an envoy from TianSong. He says he has a sensitive message for your eyes only," the servant bowed to her and Sasa.

Grateful for the interruption, and guilty for wanting one, Anaur got up from her desk. She told her daughter, careful to keep a calm voice, "We'll have the rest of this discussion later. This is an urgent matter. " There were appearances to keep up in front of the servants after all. Although Anaur didn't know how much of that was left after the very public argument a week ago.

She could practically hear her daughter grinding her teeth as she left the room. Silently, she apologized to the forlorn girl sitting glumly in the chair. She did not wish to see her daughter married off as part of a... well, a ransom demand, but the consequences went far beyond the Iris family. Why, she wondered, did the fate of the world rest on the marriage of one girl; and why did it have to be her daughter?

They weren't completely new to this though. Sacrifice was one of the Iris family traditions, sacrifice for the sake of the world.


	11. Landfall

_The upcoming Landfall event has lowered the price of water and grain futures. Despite complaints of high prices, food and water has been guaranteed to be more available by Weinbar Corporation after the Landfall event._

_For those of you who do not have airships, the Landfall event still presents opportunity. Water will become cheaper and more plentiful, as will food, which all of us will welcome, but so will wood and other luxury items. Iris has consulted their maps and they say that this area did not have accessible mines and so the Landfall event will not be an extended one and there will probably not be a significant drop in metals._

_If you are eyeing a wooden proposal ring or that piece of luxury furniture, after the Landfall is the best time to get it. It is a common and reliable investment in wood or metals after a Landfall, and the Market Maker recommends a number of trusted wood dealers._

_\-- The Market Maker, TianSong Conglomerate; Pre-Landfall special article_

* * *

"Your strap and buckle?"

"Here, its fine. "

Loco grinned at her and turned back to face the front after making sure of his own buckle. "Ok, hang on tight, we're going down!"

A nudge to the control stick sent the airship into a steep nosedive, the acceleration pressing them into their seats. Esther gulped down a scream as a fist of air seemed to slam into her face. Suddenly glad for the goggles, she opened her eyes.

Nimby Garden, just behind them a moment ago, was already disappearing into a small speck. The rolling clouds of the Grey Mist in front of them waved deceptively peacefully, hiding the definitely solid ground below them.

Esther ducked behind the windshield, "are you sure about this? The mist is still there!"

Loco shouted back, "They announced that they will activate the Silver Shield at 9 o'clock! The Iris are very punctual about this!"

The timepiece embedded in Betsy's rows of indicators showed 10 seconds left. Esther looked back down at the white wall coming rushing back up at them. It sure didn't looked like they would make it.

"Shouldn't we pull up a little?!" she screamed, "I don't think we're going to make it!"

"-" Loco shouted something back but the increasing wind carried away his words even under the windshield.

Then the Mist rushing up at them suddenly started shifting. They retreated to the side, flowing like water under some unseen giant's foot.

Loco rammed the control stick upwards and Betsy bucked under them, throwing Esther hard against the back of the seat.

Betsy pulled out of the dive at a steep angle, far too close to the ground in Esther's opinion. The speed was making the revealed ground whiz by below them, a dirty brown blur with jagged protrusions that sped by with nasty zipping noises.

Esther gripped the safety straps as Loco banked the airship to a halt. The retreating Grey Mist had stopped, a sheer imposing wall of roiling "clouds" that seethed against the invisible Silver Shield holding it back.

Curious about the land below she had never seen up close before, Esther peered over the side of the airship and instantly regretted it. She had seen the ground once before during a previous Landfall a few years ago, but that was from the edge of the Weinbar island. The brownish splotch so far down was like a picture, with the clear river of precious water winding its way around the bare soil.

This one was close enough that she could see exactly how far they were above the ground.

Esther gulped and kept her eyes firmly inside the airship.

"Exciting, huh?" Loco asked, checking the altimeter and attitude meaures to see to Betsy's condition.

Esther looked back upwards at the cluster of islands that was the Lands. They were shedding a constellation of descending airships, far behind and above them. Did Loco really just do this risky dive just to secure an early spot?

"Yeah, that was a bit too exciting. "

* * *

Loco looked at the clear water in the vial Esther had hauled up with the simple line of rope.

"Hmm, that's quite a high Grey mist index," he watched the dispelling device purify the water of the deadly replicating magic, "We probably shouldn't get any closer to the edge of the Silver Shield. "

While their dispelling devices that disrupted magic could deal with the Grey Mist in isolation, they could be easily overloaded by the tiny spells that siphoned magic to duplicate themselves. The Silver Shield could not only destroy the Grey Mist in a very large area, it also somehow prevented the spell from replicating. Of course, the Silver Shield itself was subject to constant erosion by the Grey Mist, which necessitated the perpetual repair work that was the Iris family's signature spell.

Still, Loco seemed confident that his four local dispelling pylons could keep the Grey Mist at bay for a time, so they had decided to follow the water up-river as far as they could go. Upriver water was slightly cleaner and they could be sure that no one would be polluting it above them.

The streaks of airships winding their way up the river, trying to find a good landing spot, were far behind them though and Betsy touched down onto the ground gently.

The endless grey rocks and traces of brown soil was nothing at all like she imagined. There was no grass, and a few skeletons of trees that were still standing looked like weather worn wood than living things. But then her expectation of finding an endless garden was clearly a delusion since everyone knew the Grey Mist killed everything under it. She didn't know why she had ever expected find anything living down here.

"All right, I'll set up these pylons to ward off the Grey Mist, you get the water drums out of Betsy," Loco hopped out of the airship, grabbing the 4 metal poles.

Esther nodded, not missing the fire rifle he had over his back. Loco had prepared huge numbers of large water drums in anticipation for the Landfall. It wasn't his usual method since moving drums the size of people when they were full of water was very hard to do alone. Esther was an Arael though, and with an entire fresh rack of airship fuel to top up her magic constantly, she could move any number of water drums.

She took out the single silvery cross and carefully levitated the empty water drums out of the airship onto the barren soil. Once they were all on the ground, she grabbed the hoses and climbed out of the airship.

For the most part, getting water from the river was a matter of digging a hole and siphoning water from the river into the drum before levitating the full drum back onto the airship. Boring work, but each drum was nearly seven Talens.

* * *

Loco was busily hammering prongs into the rocky ground for the tents, the arms length magical contraption in his hand giving off frightfully loud pings as it drove the metal rods through solid rock. Esther looked up from the third barrel, smiling slightly at the memory of her having to remind Loco to bring two tents. The poor boy had not even understood why she insisted on that until she had pointed out in no uncertain terms that she wasn't about to share a tent with him.

A glint in the distance caught her eye and Esther looked up at it. Was that...

The small metallic dot in the sky swelled suddenly and before she knew it, there was a large airship flying past them, circling around their position to slow down. The large multi-person craft looked like a cargo hauler.

It looked a few times larger than Betsy and Esther noticed a fire-rifle like protrusion from the underside. The sharp magical projector glinted as the airship turned to face them and a hatch opened on the side.

Loco waved to attract Esther's attention. "Be careful, that's not a TianSong or Weinbar airship," he said, putting down his hammering device and handing the spare fire rifle to Esther, "Hold this, just in case. I don't want them to find out you're an Arael yet. "

"Are they going to shoot us? Won't they get in trouble later?" Esther whispered back, watching the four people shimmy down the rope to the other side of the river. Attacking people on Weinbar was punishable by the death penalty, common enough a law in all the Weinbar-held islands.

"TianSong isn't as powerful as Weinbar, we don't control everyone. They're almost certainly from the Frontier Lands and if we get into a fight, we're on our own. Weinbar and TianSong will usually respect first claims but they won't enforce it. There's just too many people doing this for them to send their Enforcers everywhere. "

Esther nodded and took the fire rifle. Using one was as simple as pointing the business end at something you wanted to hit and pulling the trigger. Powered by a fuel crystal inside, a fire rifle held enough shots to blow away even an airship as large as the cargo craft. Given time.

The first man on the ground on the other side waved his cap, "Hey there! Do you mind if you share this spot?"

"It's ours!" Loco shouted back, "We put out a first claim signal, you can hear it on your transmitters. "

"You're just one small airship, it's not like you can haul everything, can you?"

"I intend to make multiple trips. You are free to take water, but the soil and wood here is ours," Loco used his fire rifle to indicate their claimed area.

Despite Loco's conversation, Esther could see the other three people spread out once they got down. They didn't seem like they were going to just leave. Loco probably hadn't realized that the man was just stalling, even though he was the one to warn her that rogue airships were dangerous.

She drew the dual purpose silver square and the spike from her pocket, cradling the fire rifle awkwardly. If they were just going to stick around, then there was no problem with warning them off. Even if there were four of them, and a bigger fire rifle on their airship, Esther was confident that she could easily defeat them all. Being half-Arael had its advantages after all.

Loco shouted something back but Esther screened it out as she focused on conjuring magic. A globe of magic formed above her silver spike, solidifying as she wove it tighter. Loco spun around as he felt the magical signature and before he could undoubtedly protest, she fired it off.

The ball gained an angry red hue as it flew across the river and when it reached over the four intruders, it exploded just below their airship into a shower of red flame, cleanly missing everything.

The four intruders dropped flat on the ground. "Ok ok! It's yours!" the man shouted back, sounding panicked, "just let us leave!"

"Get going then!" Loco put some anger in his voice, "before we change our mind and shoot you down. "

They watched the cargo hauler slowly set down on the rocky ground and the four men quickly beat a retreat into the airship that had hurriedly landed.

"Why did you do that?" Loco turned around, "You aren't supposed to let people know you're an Arael!"

"It's not like my family will find out right?" Esther shot back, "these people aren't connected to-"

The cargo hauler rose up across the river, but instead of turning to go, the fire rifle beneath it deployed outwards. Esther blinked in surprise for a moment as she saw it over Loco's shoulder and whipped out the silver square.

Stood on its corner, it was a diamond. Her magical shield spread out over the tiny camp as the large fire rifle under the cargo hauler coughed out a large ball of flame. The shield rippled as it absorbed the magic easily, canceling out the incoming bolt without a trace. The backlash was more than she had anticipated but still manageable. Magic radiated from her like an aura, Esther could almost feel her hair lifting but that wasn't real.

Loco spun around to look at the airship again, "Are they crazy?" he muttered to himself while readying his fire rifle. He ducked behind the half-pitched tent and shot at the airship. The tiny bolts of fire sailed off into the sky.

The doors on the side of the cargo hauler opened and two of the crew looked out on either side, brandishing crossbows in their direction. "Yes, they are," Loco muttered again, trying to snipe a crossbow man but missing again. He cursed and asked as the men took aim, "You can handle physical and magic attacks at the same time? It's a common anti-Arael tactic. "

Esther simply nodded and flicked her diamond sideways; on its side, it was a square. That was a trick she devised while learning magic on Iris. If her physical and magical shields used the same basic shape for the trigger, she could very easily swap between them. Almost at will in fact.

The crossbow bolts crashed into the suddenly solid barrier, decelerating rapidly to a near stop before falling out of the air weakly as they penetrated. To a person trying to walk through one, a generic all-purpose physical barrier felt like walking through a wall of cotton wool. Loco's return fire sailed right through it. And when the airship's fire rifle shot again, the barrier was suddenly back to being a dispelling one, the decelerating magic dispersing as it hit the disruptive magic.

Esther wondered if she should use her spike, an attack spell similar to the fire rifles. But she didn't actually want to kill those people, whoever they were. Still...

Loco finally managed to hit the jinking airship, the bolt of fire boring a smoking hole into the metal skin. The airship fired a few more times, to no effect as Esther absorbed all their attacks, and decided to throw in the towel.

"Enough, Loco," Esther said, stopping him from taking a few more shots at the retreating airship.

Phew, that was more tiring than she expected, she might even need to eat some fuel to recharge.

"I still think that was too much of a risk," Loco said, "They were too well prepared to be simple claim jumpers. They were probably pirates. "

"If they were going to fight in the first place, only my warning shot could have any chance of scaring them off," Esther added, "not that it did anyway. "

"Okay," Loco stood up and brushed himself off, "fine, I admit that they were a little more desperate than I thought but that wasn't a risk you should have taken. You don't start a fight if you can possibly avoid it. "

Hmph! And she was the one who had won it too, so why couldn't he just appreciate that? "So, it worked this time," she said.

"And it might not the next!" Loco suddenly cut off his increasingly harsh tone. Then he deflated and waved at her, "this is rare enough that it shouldn't happen again anyway. Just... just continue. "

He turned around walked off to the airship.

* * *

Loco maneuvered Betsy carefully into the Delivery Association's hangar, aware that Betsy wouldn't be able to turn quickly when she was almost fully loaded.

"There you are!" Carver sounded relieved as he ordered the temporary workers to unload the water drums. "You're later than I expected. Isn't Betsy supposed to be the first one in all the time?"

Carver nodded at the cargo hauler on the other side with a much larger crowd of workers swarming over it.

Loco got out of the airship, "Sorry, I got into a fight with a bunch of pirates trying to take my claimed area. "

"Oh," Carver looked over to Betsy, "are you all right?"

"Yes, my assistant helped alot," Loco shivered a little, "I left her there to take care of my claim. "

Carver thought for a while, "if there's anything you want to tell me...?"

Loco paused and then muttered, "I never thought Araels could be so scary. " The vision of the airship sized fire rifle's bolt just vanishing without a trace came to mind. That was really far more magic than anyone ought to have wielded. Esther could probably have just crushed those pirates in their cargo hauler if she wanted to.

"You don't have to work with her if you don't want to," Carver said, "talk to me if you need a hand. "

That was practically an invitation to discreetly talk to some Enforcers. Should he? It still felt wrong to do that, when she clearly trusted him. Loco shook his head again, more emphatically this time, "Thank you, but no. "

"Really?" Carver hesitated then decided against continuing to press the point. He patted Loco on the shoulder, "all right, whatever you say so. But if you have any trouble, my offer remains open. "

Loco nodded and turned back to Betsy.

* * *

That was so... so unfair of him. Esther kicked a stray stone away as she waited for the water drum slowly filled from the river. Why did she, the one who had driven off the pirates, get to feel bad about doing that? After all, they weren't in any danger because she was there!

That wasn't quite right. The reason why she was feeling guilty, and yes, she sternly told herself that was the right way to put it, was Loco's hurt look and sudden retreat. She would not feel as bad if he continued to shout nor even if they had gotten into a fight, not the real sort with fire rifles of course. But he had simply stopped and... and done what? Esther didn't know what he did, but he was disappointed with her?

No, that was wrong. In any case, doing that was cheating. He couldn't just walk off when they were about to argue and not argue.

She flicked the silver cross and vaguely wondered what exactly it was that was bothering her as the full water drum levitated itself over into Betsy.

That was the sixth, and just like after the third drum, Loco nodded his thanks at her wordlessly, got into Betsy and flew back up into the sky. Meanwhile, Esther was to spend the time gathering any soil she saw and work on uprooting that dead tree Loco had been trying to dig out of the ground.

He probably wouldn't be back by evening. Their neighbours in the area just downstream had been amicable after Loco went to talk to them and they had drawn an imaginary line in the rock to divide things. Not that Esther and Loco could move all that much stuff compared to the much larger merchant group so they had been willing to concede a few meters. Despite his confidence that no one else would come here, Esther had requested one full rack of airship fuel and a fire rifle, just in case.

Esther continued to think it through until nighttime, but no answers came to her. It took until the next morning before they started talking again but Esther sensed that whatever it was between them hadn't been resolved at all.


	12. Tir's Practice

**315 years ago**

"Why do I have to do this?"

"Because you are special," the Arael behind her kept looking down at the deck of the airship, "You will take over the role of Iris in maintaining the Silver Shield, an immortal Arael who can recharge her own magic. The Iris monarchy's protection of the world is their main trump card, until we have a replacement for them, we cannot remove them. "

"Is that why I don't have to use Extension?" Tir asked as she refilled her magic slowly. It seemed easy to just recycle her own magic with the free magic in the environment, she didn't even need to sing, but apparently other Araels weren't strong enough.

The Arael teacher nodded respectfully. Tir had soon found out that it wasn't Araels that were special, it was her. She was special even for an Arael.

"You are needed for the Silver Shield after the war and they want you to... well, last forever. You won't even age past twenty, or at least, that was the idea. We won't know for sure of course, none of us will live long enough. "

Tir considered it for a moment, at least it wasn't too bad right? She could run their Silver Shield for them, it had to be better than this endless training and fighting a war that she knew nothing about.

* * *

"All right then, I'm going to sing," Tir smiled back at her two Arael friends and Mauricio, the guard who had to follow them around. Even to the top deck of an airship that was in between islands, even when no escape was possible, it was his duty to ensure she didn't try to kill herself.

Not that she was planning to. Being the most powerful Arael ever had advantages, she was special.

The song for the new spell she had been preparing for some time spiraled into the air, angry and harsh. The blood red flecks of magic built up slowly into a storm around her, grinding away at everything nearby. Tir threw her magic forwards and the flecks slashed across the deck to the target metal pole, which wore away to dust within seconds, the iron filings carrying into the maelstrom to become more ammunition. The flecks would block magical attacks and destroy physical projectiles going through it, as well as obviously attacking.

A combination offense and defense spell of incredible power and complexity, one that only Tir could use. Tir continued to sing her rage, rage at her creators. It at least felt good.

Tir jerked out of her song reverie as someone shook her violently. Oh, it was Mauricio and one Arael, who was no doubt shielding his approach.

"Um, what-" she looked around and her question answered itself. The deck was sanded smooth, wood and metal scoured by the fine dust now settling around them. In the distance below, Tir could see a shower of red magic float downwards, looking for all the world like a red version of the far deadlier Grey Mist far below at the ground, the bottom of the world.

Beside her though was a shock. The deadly dust storm was shielded away in a rough cone by the barrier the other Arael had erected. It had evidently leaked, judging by the corpse lying on the deck that was shorn down to the bone. Tir turned around, lips trembling, pointedly not looking at it. She had only known the other girl for less than three days but it hurt just as badly even when she had taken care not to learn their names this time.

A small flame shot out from Tir's finger as she choked back the urge to apologize uselessly. It was always like this and the Weinbars kept making her do this. She held up the arm with the flame and they fell back hurriedly as an inferno of pure red Fire shot into the sky.

Why was she created, couldn't they win their war without her?


	13. Victoria, Again

"Victoria?"

Esther watched Loco knock on the door of the inn, nervously looking around the street. She hoped her disguise was good enough. And if it came down to it, that Loco was good with that fire rifle slung over his back.

After a month in Loco's house, with the occasional excursion, Esther had expected her first walk into town to be a bit more exciting. Instead, all she could think of was whether it was safe enough to go out without getting caught.

"Victoria?" Loco called out again and the door banged open to reveal the yellow-haired girl in a stained apron over a heavy blouse.

"Loco!" Victoria exclaimed, wrapping herself around Loco's arm, "You came to see me. It's been nearly forever! Oh, and who is that?"

Esther tugged the beret lower and peeked out at Victoria. She was looking Esther up and down. Was she not recognizable under the heavy overalls? Good, the disguise was at least decent then.

"Hm hm, Loco~" she began slyly but Loco interrupted her, simply talking straight over her, "I was wondering about that, you haven't been around lately so I came to see you," he lowered his voice to something more approaching normal, "I also need information. "

Oh, so that was how one managed to talk to Victoria, eh? Just keep going or she will.

Victoria scowled and put her hands on her hips, turning to Esther, "You see that? I stop coming every two or three days and he takes an entire month to notice! Honestly," she shook her head and gave an exaggerated mock sigh.

"Um," Loco scratched his chin hesitantly, "I was a little busy with the Landfall and all. "

"Oh, I'm sure, you're always busy," Victoria snapped back sarcastically. Esther blinked at the sudden intensity, was that just an act? "You come here only to get information after all right?" Victoria huffed.

Before Loco could apologize, she suddenly changed attitudes like a whiplash. Anger, mock or not, suddenly melted into a gooey sweet voice, "But it's okay, I'll forgive this insensitive blockhead," she said to Esther, "come in both of you, it's just past closing time so we can talk in private. "

Esther followed them in as Victoria half-dragged Loco into the tavern. She wondered if she could ever get used to Victoria, less than five minutes was enough to make her head spin.

* * *

"So, I presume this is the girl I met the other day in your house?" Victoria shot out as they took a seat at the empty tables. Well, Esther guessed her disguise hadn't worked after all.

Esther and Loco nodded at the same time and Victoria looked at them with a glint in her eye. "Loco~, you never told me anything about her," she pouted at him.

"He never tells anyone anything," Esther echoed, adding empathically, "unless you ask him directly. "

"Aha!" Victoria's sudden outburst caught them by surprise, "I was right not to come intruding into your lives. So Loco," she shot at him suddenly, "when's the wedding?"

There was a moment before Esther caught her meaning. "It's not like that!" she burst out, feeling the heat flush to her face.

Victoria considered her for a moment and said to Loco in a pitying voice, "aw, she doesn't like you after all. "

Loco shifted uncomfortably and Esther looked on with interest. That was a side of him she hadn't seen before. Probably only Victoria could manage to poke fun at him enough to discomfit the 'insensitive blockhead'.

He cleared his throat and said in a too-normal voice, "I think that's quite enough joking around. " Well, ok, not quite normal, Esther could detect a trace of embarrassment. "I have a few questions, Victoria. "

Victoria tutted at him, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," but she dutifully straightened up, "all right, fire away. "

"I want to know if the Weinbar enforcers who just left a week ago have really given up their search for a runaway daughter. "

Victoria blinked at him for a few seconds and was suddenly very serious. "Mind taking off your cap?" she asked Esther.

Esther nodded, pulling the beret down even lower, "yes I do mind. " Curse these ears! If only her Arael marker wasn't so obvious.

She was sure Victoria would be able to guess far more about what these ears meant about where Esther came from than Loco. There could only be so many runaway daughters from the Iris line after all.

"It's okay, you can trust her," Loco said.

After a very long and uncomfortable moment, Esther gingerly lifted the beret off her head and the pair of pointy ears popped out, freed from the constraining cap that trapped them safely under her hair.

"Ah," Victoria sighed, muttering something to herself. "You sure about this, Loco?"

Esther looked down at the table glumly, hoping that Loco was right when he said that Victoria would keep the secret.

"Yeah, I trust her," Loco said simply.

Victoria gasped, hands flying to her mouth, "my, that is rather sudden. "

Despite her mischievous tone, even Loco could tell that she was being serious, though Esther thought he probably missed the deeper meaning.

A flicker of a darker expression crossed Victoria's face for a moment before she suddenly brightened up.

"Well, you two might be as close as lovebirds," she said jokingly, "but I don't know you at all," she looked straight at Esther.

Victoria sized them up for a moment then finally replied Loco's question, "Yeah, the Weinbar enforcers have given up looking for that missing daughter. " She winked at Esther. Yep, she definitely knew. Esther was a little grateful that Victoria hadn't stated it outright though, and it looked like Loco was not interested in asking further.

That made her feel a little happier about him. Only a little bit, she reminded herself.

Loco sighed in relief, "Whew, that's good then. We should probably try to get you a fake Arael ID in that case, TianSong just started asking Araels to register. "

Victoria thought about it, "I'll see what I can do, but it will take some time. It's hard to avoid drawing attention with these new things and it's probably better to stay out of trouble in the meantime. "

Esther spoke up, "I don't intend to go back, so if there is any way I can help you with that, or anything else, please just ask. I feel bad accepting so much help from you. "

"Hmm," Victoria tapped her lips, thinking, "ah, you're going to stay at Loco's place?"

Esther looked at Loco, who nodded his permission. She turned back, "If you don't mind, that will be convenient," Victoria nodded, she did not mind, "I will still need to find work though, I don't have much money. "

Victoria looked at Loco with exaggerated disappointment, "you're taking money from her?" she shook her head and sighed.

Loco shrugged, "Not in the last month. She helped me out alot in the last Landfall. "

"Haha," Victoria laughed, "I guess an Arael as strong as her was very helpful?"

"In a variety of ways. "

* * *

"So," Victoria looked Esther up and down slowly, as if imagining something with her as a model, "I didn't get a good look at you before, but I do now. You're pretty, so why not work here as a waitress in the meantime? I'll get to know you better too. "

"Is that really all right?" Loco asked. To Esther, he sounded a bit too concerned to just be worrying about troubling Victoria.

"Nah, it'll be fine, I'm the head waitress after all, or did you forget?" Victoria put a bit of mischief into her voice.

"But, I mean-"

"I said it's fine," Victoria cut him off, surprisingly sharply, "I pretty much run this place, I can hire new people if I want. " So, she could be strict too huh?

Esther watched the exchange, it was strange and she felt there was a little more to it. But if Victoria was going so far for her, then Esther could hardly refuse.

"Thank you very much," she got up from her seat to bow semi-formally, "I really appreciate the help. "

"It's okay, like I said," Victoria stuck out her tongue, breaking the serious atmosphere, "besides, you are cute enough I might decide to steal you away from Loco. "

The joke put an end to their discussion as Victoria resumed her overly bright attitude.

"Well, I'll go prepare something to eat," she got up from the table, "you, Loco, will be telling me all about last month over dinner. "


	14. Introductions

"And there's your uniform," Victoria handed Esther a short and frilly dress and an equally frilly apron.

As they changed together, Esther fidgeted uncomfortably in front of the mirror. "Don't you think the dress is too short?" she tugged on the hem in a futile effort to pull it lower.

Esther had always preferred heavier, more sturdy overalls for her outside explorations. Being at the top of the world, Weinbar wasn't exactly warm, although she had to admit Nimby Garden wasn't exactly balmy either. Furthermore, none of her dresses or skirts meant for formal occasions went above her knee. The tight dress and her exposed legs felt more than a little airy.

"Oh, but that's all part of the charm," Victoria practically oozed. She was more hyper than Esther had seen before.

"I'll be too embarrassed to go out like this," Esther complained, still patting down the frills on the skirt.

Victoria rubbed Esther's shoulders reassuringly, "you'll be fine. Come on, I'll show you the ropes. "

Esther allowed herself to be lead out of the changing room, wondering if she shouldn't have tried to find another job herself.

* * *

"Today, we have Patrica who will be joining us on the floor," Victoria gestured at a woman just as busty as herself. "We call her Patty. "

As Esther exchanged bows, she couldn't help her eyes being drawn to the pair of white feathery wings jutting out of her back. They were half an arms length and definitely a moveable part of her body judging from how they moved and kept in balance with the rest of her body.

Drawn by Esther's gaze, Patty flapped the wings indicatively, causing her black hair to billow in the slight wind. "Yeah, Arael here," Patty said, wings fluttering, "And no, I can't fly with these. They say some of our pure blood ancestors could though. "

From her studies on Iris, Esther already knew that. The Angel line was one of the first and oldest Arael lines, and consequently, one of the most diluted. Unlike other Araels, their family marker of wings only manifested in those with stronger active Arael blood, increasing in size with blood purity to wings nearly fifteen meters across in the original adults. Nowadays though, it was rare to see anyone with wings even a meter long and most were shorter than Patty's at half an arm's length. For all intents and purposes, the Angel line was absorbed into the larger human population.

Esther just nodded politely, no point giving away too much about herself and what she knew.

"This is Aaron," Victoria directed her at a tall lanky man lounging against the wall. Going by his plain overalls and white apron, Esther guessed he was the cook. He held out a hand and Esther was about to take it when she noticed that his fingernails were all silvery. In fact, she could almost see herself reflected in them.

Aware she was staring, Esther gingerly accepted his handshake. "I'm from the Eler line," he answered her unasked question. Silver nails weren't a sure indicator as one could get silver nail polish if one really wanted to. "And I am the cook. It helps not needing a light for the stove. "

Esther nodded mutely, wondering wildly if she might be able to use his nails as a focus.

"And this," Victoria gestured at the last man, polishing a glass behind the counter outside the break area. "He's Peter. He tends the bar at night and helps prepare non-cooked food. "

Esther looked him up and down. Blonde hair, blue eyes and that smart suit, all were completely normal. He grinned and waved the glass in their direction, "I'm human, although I think I may have almost one in a hundred Angel blood. But then who doesn't?" he shrugged vaguely.

"Also, I'm the manager and I run this place, supposedly," Peter shared a grin with Victoria, "I seem to be doing less of that every month. "

Esther looked back at Victoria after the introductions. Come to think of it, Victoria did have those red rings in her eyes...

"Yep," Victoria nodded, as if reading her mind, "I'm an Arael too, Napish line. You Iris people stole our name. "

They all shared a laugh at the poor joke. Certainly, the red eyes would fit the name of Iris far better than pointed ears but Napish was almost as old as the Angels.  Iris was named after Napish. 

Still, that was three Araels out of four people here, not counting Esther herself. Less than one in twenty people on the street were Araels, in the sense of being magic amplified, but not even the Iris island itself had this many pointed ears among the humans.

"That's alot of Araels here," Esther pointed out, "Are you favouring us?"

Victoria winked mischievously, "I have my own little secrets too. "

"Not many people will take us," Aaron said, casual leaning stance at odds with the tension in his words, "apart from Enforcers or the magical device makers. Not when there's just as many humans and well, you know what happens with TA episodes. "

"But that only happens when we're under extreme stress," Esther half-protested.

"And we all know that because we're all Araels," Aaron spat bitterly, "most people think we're just dangerous maniacs on a hair trigger. Surely you must have met all too many of this kind of human. "

Esther shook her head mutely, feeling a little shocked. She had known about Arael discrimination but only in a distant bookish sort of way. Almost everyone she met on Weinbar recognized her name and most of her time on Iris had been spent in connection with the all-Arael Iris family. She supposed she hadn't actually met any common people before, until Loco, and had consigned the matter of anti-Arael humans to a sort of fairyland where they theoretically lived.

"My, half-blood Iris must live very different lives," Patty winked at her. Did she sound a little jealous? Esther looked at Victoria, who shook her head. All right, better not to explain things to them.

"Sorry," Esther mumbled, "it's just my first time this far outside Iris. "

"Well," Peter cut through the sinking atmosphere, "it's not like you can't live. Not everyone is like that," he grinned at Esther, "We're here and we help each other out. Now get to work. "

* * *

Most of her duties were in greeting customers, taking orders and serving and cleaning. Victoria on the other hand spent most of her time talking to customers and serving. Luckily, Victoria had arranged their shifts to the same times so Esther's mistakes were quickly made up for.

Surprisingly, most of the customers were quite forgiving of her rookie errors. She suspected the dress had something to do with that as most of the customers were male and surprisingly rich in comparison to the tavern itself. Judging from their clothing and snatches of overheard conversations, she guessed that must be how Victoria got her information.

They seemed to take her pointed ears in stride, despite Iris family members being rare this far away, especially one whose Arael blood was as strong as her own. One couple even asked if she could move them, a marker of strong Iris lineage. Esther was Iris enough to do that.

During their lunch break after the midday rush was over, an exhausted Esther nibbled at her sandwiches that she made for practice. She would never have thought that making sandwiches involved skill but Victoria's persistently stuck together until the last bite and Esther's own still left her picking pieces off her plate.

"So," Victoria asked, "how do you like being a waitress?"

"It wasn't as bad as I thought," Esther looked down at the dress with the apron she was supposed to wear to protect it when not serving on the floor. "I've mostly gotten used to the dress now. "

Victoria took a satisfied sip from her drink, "Well, you improved very quickly. Keep that up and I can certainly take you on permanently. "

Esther nodded her thanks, glad for the calming quiet after the bustle. Hmm, that was strange in itself. "You know, I just noticed that you're not as..." she stopped herself and tried to find a nicer word.

"Crazy?" Victoria grinned back, "Surely you can tell that's just an act. The customers like cheerful waitresses. "

"That's more than just cheerful," Esther smiled back.

"True, but it works," indeed, Victoria's crazy and occasionally flirty antics seemed to fit into the general atmosphere of the tavern. It only stood out jarringly when she was next to Loco.

Esther decided to ask. "So why do you act like that with Loco? He doesn't even come here. "

"Loco and I go back quite far. We come from the same orphanage, a TianSong charity here in Nimby Garden, and we were essentially the only two children there of the same age. Loco had a gift for magical engineering but I wasn't even strong in magic. Despite how we act, we know each other very well. "

The pause dragged on. Esther eventually gave up and pointed out the obvious, "It doesn't answer the question. "

"Haha, true," Victoria gave a weak laugh and sighed, "It's just something I do to him, we don't want to... get too close. "

Oops, that sounded like Esther just stumbled over something sensitive. She was about to apologize when Victoria visibly brightened up, the cheerful mask dropping into place with practiced ease.

"Besides, it's so fun to tease him!" That was creepy. Esther shuddered at the unnaturally bright voice, she couldn't even hear any trace of the solemness. "Come on! Finish up and put on a smile! Our shifts start in twenty minutes. "


End file.
